SEE THIS MOVIE! Okay, now that I have that out of my system I feel better. One of the more entertaining films I've seen this year is "Limitless" starring Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, and Robert DeNiro. It's a movie directed with some serious joy. I used the word joy because there seemed to be nothing the director Neil Burger absolutely wouldn't try and when you watch this movie you could almost imagine Neil sitting in the directors chair laughing like a giddy school kid sometimes. Thankfully he and the rest of the cast was blessed with an incredible script. This story is as original as it's not. Confused? Read on and I'll explain. "Limitless" was adapted for the screen by Leslie Dixon from the novel "The Dark Fields" written by Alan Glynn. The story follows lovable loser Eddie Morra as he stumbles through life and completely not living up to his true potential. Somehow he's acquired himself a book deal and couldn't write anything if his life depended upon it. His girlfriend hands him back her set of keys to his hovel and says goodbye to him and he doesn't blame her. In fact he completely understands why she leaves him. On his way home he bumps into Vernon, his ex-brother in law who hands him a pill that turns his life completely around. Suddenly everything is clear and Eddie goes from some uninspired slacker to maximum overachiever on this wonder drug which in turns him into an addict. In the interim though, there's nothing Eddie can't do.
Eddie gets involved in the world of high finance and aligns himself with DeNiro's character billionaire Carl Van Loon. Eddie realizes that being an author just isn't going to cut it and in two weeks he more than quadruples his money. This gets the notice of the financial world and Carl Van Loon soon comes knocking. He enlists Eddies help in putting together the deal of the century. He also gets himself in deep with some very shady and dangerous people and the screws are tightened from both ends and Eddie has to find his way out. During that time he also finds out that this magical pill has it's drawbacks, some serious drawbacks in fact. Drawbacks that are explained by his ex wife in such stark fashion that you begin to wonder yourself, "would I take the pill now knowing that?". Of course you would and I would too.
Neil Burger has created a visual playground and used New York City to play with. He uses subtle but effective little tricks like when the pill is swallowed and kicks in the movie goes from a dull color palette to a vibrant and sharp one. The cinematography by Jo Willems pedestrian but that's forgiven because you're so wrapped up in the story. The same goes for the score by Paul Leonard-Morgan. It's completely forgettable, a collection of electronic trippy tunes with no real direction or emotional impact on the movie. Thankfully the movie doesn't need any help.
I highly recommend "Limitless" because it has everything you could possibly want in a movie. Drama, comedy, action, and suspense (along with some inventive violence). It's definitely worth the price of admission. See you at the theater.