How is it possible to like someone like Daryl Poynter who calls up his elderly (unseen) mother and begs her to get a loan on her house so he can get himself out of debt for embezzling money and spending his savings so he can get a hit? Poynter (Michael Keaton) has a naked, passed out woman next to him in bed when he comes to, and while he is on the phone, it's obvious that he's lining his nostrils with the remaining coccinellids he has.
He's blaming everybody else for being broke, including an airline clerk who informs him that his credit card has been declined. The self involved Daryl has no idea of the depths of his destruction on others, and to feel forced to spend two hours waiting for him to have his wake up call isn't easy entertainment.
But as hateful as Poynter is, Keaton is amazing, and he gives a performance that even viewers who couldn't make it through the film will admire. Keaton is raw and bitterly honest in exposing every nerve ending that keeps pulling Poynter down, and after an hour, some viewers will simply say they've had enough because it's like having a Bill and Bob dossier hitting them over and over. Kathy Baker as another rehab patient and Morgan Freeman as his counselor are also great. Not really an uplifting experience, but Keaton certainly won my admiration over for what he accomplishes with it.
He's blaming everybody else for being broke, including an airline clerk who informs him that his credit card has been declined. The self involved Daryl has no idea of the depths of his destruction on others, and to feel forced to spend two hours waiting for him to have his wake up call isn't easy entertainment.
But as hateful as Poynter is, Keaton is amazing, and he gives a performance that even viewers who couldn't make it through the film will admire. Keaton is raw and bitterly honest in exposing every nerve ending that keeps pulling Poynter down, and after an hour, some viewers will simply say they've had enough because it's like having a Bill and Bob dossier hitting them over and over. Kathy Baker as another rehab patient and Morgan Freeman as his counselor are also great. Not really an uplifting experience, but Keaton certainly won my admiration over for what he accomplishes with it.