Darryl Witherspoon is a senior economics major whose mother has been raising several children on her own in a bad section of New York City. He is very bright and has a good chance of getting out of that neighborhood. But he has bills to pay and may get kicked out of the apartment he shares with hockey player Tim.
Darryl has a good chance at being the one junior analyst hired that year by the prestigious Wall Street firm Smythe-Bates. But his competition includes Scott Thorpe, whose father works for the firm. Scott belongs to the fraternity Darryl wants to join, and he thinks he is better than everyone else and that Darryl isn't good enough to be one of them. Darryl also can't make it as a hockey player.
Impressing Smythe-Bates becomes less of a priority as Darryl looks for work just to keep his apartment. The university is testing an experimental drug which heightens the five senses. Despite the potential side effects, Darryl is determined to do whatever it takes to make the money he needs. One possible problem with the drug he is not told about: at too high a dosage, one of the five senses shuts down, followed by another, and another. It's not possible to predict which of the senses will go or when, but you can bet this will happen at the worst possible time.
Darryl also wants to meet girls, and Janice is attractive, pleasant and intelligent. Can he win her love? Can he find a way to impress Smythe-Bates?
This was very funny. I liked the concept--as in "Smallville", a shiny green liquid can give an ordinary person super powers, and it can also cause all sorts of trouble.
But the movie wasn't just funny. The romantic scenes were also warm and touching.
The writing was quite intelligent. Someone must have known how Wall Street operates and the economic principles that guide the financial industry.
I'm surprised we haven't heard more from Marlon Wayans. Although he seemed like a silly clown at times, he really demonstrated comic abilities when Darryl struggled with the drug's problems. And he showed superior talent for both comedy and drama when the drug did what it was supposed to do.
David Spade was somewhat less of a loser here than he usually is. He excels at playing jerk loser characters, but Scott had more dimension than the usual Spade type.
Richard McDonagle was quite good as one of the top men at Smythe-Bates. And Tamara Taylor impressed as Janice. Esther Scott had a brief but effective performance as Darryl's determined mother.
This was really worth seeing. Don't be misled by the title.
