(Street Life is a regular feature that focuses on what's playing in the stock market.)

* ACT I: The Bitter Pill Biovail Corp. (TSX:BVF) $18.14 Down 29.5 per cent (weekly selloff).

The market didn't need any more reasons to put Biovail in the penalty box, but the embattled Mississauga-based drugmaker still provided a couple more. Shares in the company fell victim to a double-barrelled dose of negative news. First, the Ontario Securities Commission made allegations that company chairman and Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk failed to file insider reports for Biovail stock held in trust accounts established in the Cayman Islands. That triggered some nervousness in the market, but then panic selling ensued when a U.S. court made a ruling that favoured Anchen Pharmaceuticals in a patent infringement case over Biovail's Wellbutrin XL.

The ruling means that Anchen may be able to come to market sooner than expected with a generic form of the anti-depressant drug that accounts for the bulk of Biovail sales. Biovail responded to the news by saying that it was reassessing its previous financial guidance for 2006. Shares in Biovail have been in the doghouse for the past six years since spiking to $130 in 2000.

* ACT II: The Home Run Grande Cache Coal (TSX:GCE) $1.46 Up 48.9 per cent (one-week rally).

The stockholders were two-stepping over Grande Cache's earnings revival, but one firm that covers the metallurgical coal miner forgot to bring its dancing shoes to the party. Canaccord Adams rained on the Grande parade by maintaining its 'hold' rating and slashing its target price from $2 to $1.40, citing a "limited possibility of positive earnings surprises in the near future," owing to a scheduled maintenance shutdown of mining operations. Grande Cache earned $1.7 million or three cents a share in the quarter ending June 30. That was a dramatic turnaround from a loss of $12.2 million or 30 cents a share in the year-ago period.

* ACT III: The Earnings Bomb Sierra Wireless (TSX:SW) $13.42 Down 27.5 per cent (six-day post-earnings dive).

Just as Sierra was coming into favour with tech investors, the company dropped a bombshell in the laps of its shareholders with a grim third-quarter outlook. Despite reporting a second-quarter profit after a loss in the year-ago period, the Richmond, B.C.-based maker of wireless access cards for laptops said it expects to break even in the third quarter on revenue of $51 million US. That knocked the socks off the street, which had been expecting third-quarter earnings of 12 cents US a share on $55 million US of revenue. Piper Jaffray slashed its target on the stock to $11 from $23 and downgraded it to 'market perform' from 'outperform'. Sierra shares recorded a near double earlier this year, hitting a high of $23.71 in May.

* ACT IV: The Beer Wars Sleeman Breweries (TSX:ALE) $15.49 Up 16.5 per cent (one-week rally).

In terms of bidding wars, is Sleeman shaping up as the next Falconbridge (TSX:FAL)? It appeared that some investors were betting on another wild bidding war in a similar vein to the one that has lit a fire under Falconbridge shares in the great mining sector power play. Speculation that as many as four or more beer companies may make plays for Sleeman had the market frothing and one analyst, David Hartley of Blackmont Capital, added fizz to the story by speculating that bids from foreign interests could come in as high as $19 a share or more. Companies considered in the running for Sleeman, which put itself up for sale in May, are Molson Coors Brewery, Labatt Brewing, Sapporo Brewery of Japan and Royal Grolsch NV of the Netherlands. Sleeman has distribution deals with Sapporo and Royal Grolsch.

* ACT V: The Showstopper IMAX Inc. (TSX: IMX) $6.44 Down 40.2 per cent (one-day swoon on news).

IMAX is in the business of keeping people in suspense but stockholders are growing weary of the spine-tingling corporate sideshow. The plot thickened just as the share price was building amid speculation of a bidding war for the theatre company, which put itself up for sale in March. Shareholders stampeded to the exits when IMAX said it had yet to receive a satisfactory bid. The company also said it was co-operating with an "informal request" from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concerning an accounting issue pertaining to timing revenue recognition. The market ignored the good news - the company's report that it tripled profits in the second quarter.

* ACT VI: The Tech Rebound Celestica (TSX:CLS) $10.83 Up 21.7 per cent (on July 28, one-day move on earnings).

Long-suffering Celestica shareholders have come to expect the worst. So when the company's quarterly financial report didn't reveal any unpleasant surprises, the stock surged from a 52-week low, buoyed by a couple of analyst upgrades. Celestica beat the street estimates by a penny, with earnings of $29.1 million US or 13 cents a share, excluding restructuring charges and losses from the sale of a business unit. Quarterly revenue was $2.2 billion US. Credit Suisse raised its rating on the stock from 'underperform' to 'neutral', while Desjardin Securities boosted it from a 'hold' to a 'buy'. The Toronto-based electronics manufacturing services (EMS) firm has spent years in the stockholder doghouse since hitting $125 in 2000.

* ACT VII: The (Eskimo) Pie in the Face CoolBrands International Inc. (TSX:COB.A) $1.05 Down 66.1 per cent (year-to-date plunge).

Once the toast of Bay Street, this maker of frozen treats, including the Eskimo Pie, has become about as appealing as brain freeze to investors. The latest selloff was triggered by a warning CoolBrands received from a lender over its credit agreements, something that always irritates the market. JP Morgan Chase said it "reserves the right" to terminate two credit agreements after the Markham company failed to meet certain earnings benchmarks. Just over two years ago, CoolBrands was one of the hottest stocks on the TSX, rocketing as high as $27 before it started to lose flavour with the loss of rights to the Weight Watchers brand.

* ACT VIII: The Penny Jackpot Cash Minerals (TSXV:CHX) $1.48 Up 270 per cent (year-to-date surge).

Many junior mining companies are far too modest, rarely, if ever, titillating the market with press releases. Well, Cash could never be accused of modesty. The Vancouver-based uranium exploration play has breath-lessly churned out 17 news hits since Jan. 1, much to the delight of its shareholders.

In a single week recently, the company announced it was adding 2,000 claims to its massive 40,000-hectare Yukon uranium project, accelerating its exploration by adding a drill and beefing up its exploration team. Of course, the fact that the uranium price has continued its breathless ascent hasn't hurt, either.

(Quotes are based on prices through Aug. 4 unless otherwise specified.)

(Gyle Konotopetz can be reached at gyle@businessedge.ca)