- A hustling drug addict checks himself into rehabilitation to escape trouble with the law and realizes that it's exactly what he needs.
- Michael Keaton plays Daryl Poynter, a hot shot real estate agent who just happens to have a cocaine and drinking problem. One morning, he wakes up to find a dead woman in his bed (someone he had been partying with the night before) from a cocaine overdose. He also just happens to receive a phone call from his employers telling him a huge sum of money is missing from one of his accounts. Panicking, Daryl decides to check into a drug rehab to hide from the law, where he meets tough cookie Morgan Freeman. A recovering addict himself, he now works as a drug counselor, and knows all the tricks Daryl tries to pull. Soon Daryl discovers he just might be in the right place, after all.—Humberto Amador
- In Philadelphia, brash commercial real estate agent Daryl Poynter, a cocaine addict and alcoholic (although he doesn't believe he has a problem in either of those two aspects), checks himself into a drug rehab center solely to go into hiding from the possible criminal and legal alternatives, most specifically that he has embezzled $92,000 to play the stock market in turn to pay off drug debts, his stocks which have instead lost money, and who was a one-nighter, Karen Peluso, ended up having a heart attack in his bed the result of a drug overdose, the police and her loved ones who may not care that she was the one who supplied the cocaine that night in laying blame. He expects to do the minimum required to stay in the facility as he carries on with what he considers the important aspects of his life, especially with regard to the the escrow account from which he stole the money, his stocks, and Karen's health status, all the while trying to get drugs from his regular suppliers. What he doesn't expect is the tough love of the facility's counselor Craig, who has almost zero tolerance on contravention of any of the facility's and his own policies, and making a true connection to some of his fellow patients, most specifically Charlie Standers. Charlie, a steel mill worker, has her own problems beyond her drug addiction, namely being in an abusive ten year relationship with Lenny, a relationship from which she seems unable to break free. With the help of who ends up being his sponsor Richard Dirks, Daryl may get to a point of truly dealing with his life in an up front manner as opposed to the lying and scheming and schmoozing that has been his modus operandi.—Huggo
- When moderately successful Daryl (Micheal Keaton) wakes from a cocaine/drinking evening to find last night's date a little too passed out, he bundles her up and dumps her at a hospital and drives away. Then we find that he also has bad financial troubles. One wretching scene when he calls his parents very late at night asking for his inheritence now when it will do him some good is very well done. He needs to return stolen money at work before they find out what he's done, plus he needs more cocaine. When he finds the young lady he dumped at the hospital died he commences to find a way to avoid going to jail.
He decides to check himself into a chemical dependency program, that way maybe the police won't find him, and if his employers do find him they'll realize he has found the error of his ways and is trying to rectify himself. Though once in rehab he runs head long into Craig (Morgan Freeman) who knows Daryl better than he knows himself. Craig is not at all sympathetic to anything Daryl is feeling or fearing. He knows because he's been there, but Daryl still tries to defy rules that just don't apply to him, he's different, not like those other junkies. He is made to comply or get out, which would mean to jail from both his employer and the death of the girl.
Once finally in and part of, Daryl begins to see his part in much of the troubles in his life. He also notices fellow inmate Charlie (Kathy Baker) which is a distraction he does not need right now. Fixating on her gives him a pal to do all this work that needs to be done with, except, Charlie is married.
Again I say, the writer has either been there or has really, really watched "there," because the behaviors are true. The lying, the promises, the rationalization, and the pain that takes place in these situations. As usual, it won't get the praise it deserves because for many it hits too close to home. They'll watch it happen to stars in the tabloids but it's happening in our own neighborhoods and schools. Open your eyes people!
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