Richard Hoover puts his energy into a ‘Nine Steps’ route-to-success programme he’s created. For Richard, this is all, and everything to do with success or failure is touched upon, so he thinks, by the ‘Nine Steps’. Richard is lost in his obsession, blindly labelling the natural doubts and fears of life the ways of a ‘loser’. For example, Richard judges Frank, at the start of the film at the diner table, on his attempted suicide, saying Frank ‘gave up on himself and that is something that winners never do’. This attack is made bluntly and insouciantly, revealing volumes on Richard’s nature and
