The two main stars are James Spader and John Cusack. They meet the first day of law school at UVA when Cusack smashes into Spader's car on move in day, starting a huge fight between the two. No points for guessing that they will end up roommates. They overcome this tough start and become good friends. Cusack comes from rather humble roots, to say the least, while Spader has a somewhat higher pedigree. In fact, he is dating the daughter (Imogen Stubbs) of a senator (Richard Widmark). It doesn't take long before Cusack is lying left and right about his background, trying to impress everyone. This continues to Capital Hill, when both young men are hired in Washington. Spader is an assistant DA, Cusack works on Widmark's staff.

From here, you can guess what will happen. Knowing that Cusack is such a rotten apple, nothing will be a surprise. He will double cross his "friend" so many times, and in so many cruel ways, that it's implausible that Spader could even stand in the same room with him.

I won't give the story away, but I will say that the end of the movie, when Spader gets his "revenge" is so corny and unbelievable, I would rather have had him pull out a gun and just shoot him. That would have made more sense than this. All in all, the film starts out great and will ultimately leave you cold.

The movie tries to examine issues of power and corruption. Unfortunately, the plot is so stale and obvious that it fails to add anything new to this arena. Spader and Cusack are fine, but Imogen Stubbs, as the woman they both love, is terrible. She's a Brit playing an American, but her accent creeps in far too often, which is a huge distraction. I'm a big fan of John Cusack, but this movie is definitely one of his lesser accomplishments.