He's Got a Big, Sexy Brain

Movies: Limitless

Limitless was not as good, interesting, or thrilling as I expected it to be. Part of this, I think, is because someone in charge decided it was a good idea to let Bradley Cooper narrate the whole damn movie. Not just a little narration at the beginning and end to frame the film, but the whole. damn. movie. We are treated to long bouts of exposition where the narrator and main character, Eddie Morra, explains that he used to be an unwashed loser trying to write a crappy science fiction novel, when he runs into his ex-brother-in-law who gives him a free tablet of a new drug, NZT, that lets Eddie tap into the "rest" of his brain (i.e. the 80-90% that we don't use). All of a sudden, Eddie is able to finish his book in a week, learn foreign languages instantly, seduce ANY woman (although this might not be the NZT, but the fact that it's Bradley Cooper), and, most importantly, play the stock market so that he starts making millions. Soon enough, Eddie must face the inevitable consequences for his fortune: he becomes sick from the drug itself and withdrawal when he starts running out of tablets; he is being stalked by foreign goons who want his stash; and he becomes entangled with financial bigwig Carl Van Loon (Robert de Niro, whom no one in their right, NZT-addled mind would ever presume to eff with). The message: drugs are bad. Except when they're good.



All of this plot is narrated in loving detail by Eddie, giving the audience a sense that they are being "told" and not "shown"--a mark of lazy filmmaking in my opinion. In addition, I was underwhelmed by the acting. Bradley Cooper was great in Wedding Crashers, where he played Rachel McAdams' preppy jerkface fiance. I did see The Hangover, but I barely remember any of it, let alone Cooper's performance. And as a leading man in Limitless, I was just not that impressed with him. He's quite handsome, sure, but I never really felt his fear and/or elation. He just kind of came off as a smarmy bastard. But not in an awesomely mean way as in his previous roles. Just in an annoying, boring way. Then there's Abbie Cornish, who has nothing to do except look pretty and concerned as Eddie's on-again, off-again girlfriend. She dumps him during his "great unwashed" state and then starts seeing him again when he's all sexy and smart (and on drugs). When he finds out about the drugs (which puts her in immediate danger), she understandably dumps him...but at the end of the movie, when Eddie is STILL on the drugs, she's back with him again! What?! Lady, you are successful and beautiful enough to be with a guy who is awesome while NOT on drugs! This girl needs an intervention herself to get her off the  Bradley Cooper IV drip.

A little aside here: The only women in this film are 1) a girlfriend, 2) a bitchy landlord's wife whom Eddie bangs, 3) a hooker whom Eddie bangs...and may have accidentally killed. Girlfriend, bitch, dead hooker. Just sayin'.

And there's Robert de Niro, who plays kind of a badass, but again, a yawn-inducing badass. I couldn't muster up the energy to care about these people and their lame, drug-addled, rich people problems. And aside from some awesome and trippy camera work and one scene of surprising ultraviolence, Limitless is hardly the action thriller is promises to be in the previews.

One more thing. The ending is a bit ambiguous. Eddie claims to be off the drugs, but he is clearly not. The film ends with him easily speaking a foreign language to a waitress in a fancy restaurant while his dupe of a girlfriend looks on. Eddie grins at the girlfriend and says "what?", as if to say "Little old me? On drugs? I am, and yet you can't resist my good looks and charm!" So...what is the message of this film? That drugs are bad? That they get you in physical and emotional trouble? Or that as long and you're rich and hot, drugs are freakin' awesome! I'm all for moral ambiguity, but not when it's handled so clumsily as it is in Limitless. It's kind of sad, but I was actually hoping Eddie would die/be murdered/somehow "lose" by the end. That ending would have made sense given the context of the the previous 90% of the film. But, inexplicably, Eddie ends up on top. And I didn't buy that.

3 out of 5 stars