I may have missed something here, but I watched the film last night and there seems to be a problem with the scene where Willem Dafoe tells Ray Liotta that he's been taken a placebo.
I may have misheard, but I'm sure Ray Liotta asked if he knew all along, Willem Dafoe says "No, I only found out tonight" but then Ray still responds angrily "so you knew the whole time!"
Surely this can't be right?
(obviously the quotes may not be word for word)
He was in a study which half of people are given a placebo and half are given the actual drug. The doctor or any staff are not to know who gets what. They moniter them in every which way you can imagine. The only ones that should know after the study are the medicine developers and eventually everyone after all tests are taken. In this case it was greed that allowed the company guys to know...(cliche')
The sleeping pills were real but the drug was not in his case. He was having some type of placebo effect. Dr. did not know but in Liotta's case truly thought the "medicine" was the real thing...turned out it was not. Sorta corny.
Liotta was so awesome in this movie. I give it 6 stars mostly for for Defoe and Liotta. A huge sleeper film. The corporate greed deal turned me off and the way huge "placebo effect" was not that believable. Still a great watch.