4 gibbles out of 5

Director: Neil Burger

‘Limitless’ is total wish fulfillment.  I went back and forth several times with varying interpretations on what the point was, by overall, I think it’s best just to leave it as is, as a “what if?” scenario that doesn’t end with the bittersweet Flowers for Algernon ending that normally comes with these things.

Bradley Cooper isn’t exactly your everyman in this movie, but he’s the everyman version of a mess – occupation with a profit- and output-less hobby – writing, a hot girlfriend who’s leaving him ’cause he’s going nowhere, continually behind on rent, clothes and look a shambles, etc. and etc.  He’s not dumb, and seems like a nice guy.  We’re not cheering for him exactly, but we’ll watch him in a movie.  So when Eddie Mora (‘Cooper’) is given a taste of a drug that allows him to take 100% advantage of his brain – allowing for instant recollection of events and images from years past, for understanding the different variables inherent in any conversation or exchange – we don’t begrudge him for it.  Sure, he uses that power to bang a chick right away, but it doesn’t seem to be his outright goal, it’s just an affect of being suddenly that much smarter and more charming.

It’s a smart move for ‘Limitless’.  We’ve seen abuse of power several million times, and that doesn’t end up being Eddie’s goal.  Nor is it outright solving the greenhouse effect or something – he tells the viewer in his voiceover that he just needs to plan bigger, is all.  And so he does, getting ahold of more of the drug and laying down the foundation for his big plans.  The movie bends around the normal tropes by coming up with a genius, but obvious, move: of course more people have the drug.  But some of them can’t handle it, and many of them use it for evil.  Once Eddie realizes this, it becomes a matter of him succeeding before them, a super-geniused good vs. bad.  The rest of the movie is a funny series of events that prevent Eddie from getting his pills, in which case he will probably go crazy and die.

And there’s still surprises in store, but big spoiler: it ends well.  The person I was watching the movie with was sort of bummed: normally in these movies, great power equals great responsibility and la dee da, so by movie rules, Eddie should’ve gotten a comeuppance.  It was a nice change to actually see this scenario play out mostly logically: someone granted with extreme intelligence should be able to figure out a way through…

The camera tricks are simple but well done, and well-timed, the movie opening with an extreme zoom through a bunch of NY streets.  Similar tricks are used throughout to emulate the rush of the drug, and it works to get us pumped without going all psychedelic.  Equally tasteful were the color choices – drab blues for dumb Eddie, lots of colors for smart Eddie. But it doesn’t go wicked crazy with either extreme, allowing both layers to seem like reality, the drab colors doing the job of feeling boring only after we’re exposed to the smart colors.

But it’s all wish fulfillment.  It’s a fun film.  Does it mean anything?  Is this secretly a justification for ‘responsible’ drug use as a method of surviving on Wall Street?  Who knows.  I didn’t care enough to come to a decision.  I just enjoyed it.  And it made me want those pills, so I guess the movie was effective.

"Now listen, here are the plot points we're going to gloss over later.."

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