Muddled, episodic rendering of Benjamin Stein's book "Ludes" stars James Woods as a tax shelters salesman from New York City who is brought to Hollywood along with wife Sean Young by a wealthy business contact; soon, the couple are spending lavishly and doing coke-lines on the coffee table. Cheap-looking, poorly-edited film rests almost entirely on Woods' performance to carry it...but he fails to give his hyperactive nebbish-turned-jet-setter the proper nuances (to say the least). Supporting cast (including Amanda Blake, Grace Zabriskie, and Steven Hill in a lovely turn as James' sympathetic boss and benefactor) easily out-acts the mannered leads. *1/2 from ****
Review of The Boost
