| Director | Penelope Spheeris |
|---|---|
| Budget | $15 million |
| Box office | $13.1 million |
Darryl Witherspoon is an economics student at Stratford University, who does not have the advantages of his wealthy nemesis, Scott Thorpe, or his best friend Tim LaFlour, a straight edge punk rocker who has a hockey scholarship. Darryl is so broke that he donates 4 pints of blood and 4 vials of sperm in one day (playing a different character each time). Darryl's big break comes when he enters a competition, where the winner gets a high-paying Wall Street job. But when Scott enters the competition, it seems Darryl's break has gone down the drain.
Darryl takes on a high-paying experiment to test a drug that enhances the five senses tenfold. Darryl uses it to his advantage, impressing the competition's supervisor, Mr. Tyson, and even joining the hockey team as a goalie. But after taking an extra dose one night to improve his sexual performance with a lover, he experiences side effects. The experiment's supervisor, Dr. Thomas Wheedon, tells Darryl that only four of his senses will work at a time until the drug leaves his body.
As Darryl struggles, Tim thinks that his friend is on heroin and gets worried about him. Darryl's luck then goes down the drain when he loses the hockey game after losing his sight. He also mistakenly professes his love to his girlfriend's father, whom he thinks is his girlfriend, as his sight fails. Her father turns out to be Mr. Tyson. He also acts very clumsily (because of the loss of the ability to see) during the basketball game he is invited to see with a client who needs to be impressed in order for Darryl to score some points with the Smythe-Bates guys. Luckily, the client thinks Darryl is just being funny and signs a contract with the company.
As the story progresses, Darryl asks his friend Tim to help him study for the next day's interview. At that exact moment, Scott studies for the test with the aid of his rich father's employees. Scott is shown to answer a question correctly, but because he does not know the reason, he ignores it. The next day, now dressed in a flashy outfit after going naked and desperate to a clothes seller (as he had been attacked and robbed by a thief, becoming unconscious at the moment), the drug leaves Darryl's system, and now all five of his senses operate normally.
During the interview, it comes down to Darryl and Scott. Scott is asked the same question he was asked last night; he answers it correctly, but when asked the reason, he does not know. Darryl steps in, gives the correct reason, and scores the position of junior analyst at Smythe-Bates. But in his speech, he confesses that he cheated by taking an experimental drug. A meeting is called to decide his fate, and Mr. Tyson tells him that he himself started out in the mail room, and Darryl should too. If he serves one year of duty in the mail room, he will score the position of junior analyst. Scott is cut off by his father. The story skips a year, and Darryl is shown asking his mom to move into a deluxe apartment. The movie ends with Darryl entering the Smythe-Bates building on his first day, accompanied by a familiar-looking doorman (a cameo by Sherman Hemsley of The Jeffersons).