"Limitless"

Drama, Thriller and Adaptation. Rated PG-13. 1 hour, 45 minutes.

|

Bradley Cooper gets hooked on a wonder-drug and butts heads with Robert De Niro in Limitless.

Cooper plays Eddie Morra, a struggling writer who lives in New York City and just lost his girlfriend, Lindy (Abbie Cornish). Eddie has an idea for a novel, but cannot overcome writer’s block until he comes across his former brother-in-law (Johnny Whitworth) who presents Eddie with a miracle drug that will solve all his problems.

Eddie takes the drug and writes his novel in no time. However, he only feels the drugs effects for 24 hours. Through some shady dealings, Eddie is able to get his hands on all the drugs he could ever need, and thus begins his meteoric rise and fall.

The success of“Limitless depends on Cooper’s performance. He is in every scene, and needs to carry the movie. Fortunately, Cooper does a pretty admirable job. He’s likable even though his character is working with drug dealers and mobsters while walking around with a smug entitled look on his face. Unfortunately, De Niro is not given much to work with in the film. Even though he has been in some terrible movies lately, I am still a hardcore De Niro fan. I wanted to see much more of him.

Limitless is based on the novel “The Dark Fields” by Alan Glynn. The whole time I was watching the movie, I kept thinking to myself that this material would work much better as a book. I have not read the book, but will definitely read it sometime in the near future. Also, after researching the book on the internet, I would definitely prefer the book’s ending to the film’s ending. I don’t want to spoil anything, but it wraps up a little too neatly.

That being said I enjoyed Limitless more than I thought I would. If you are a fan of Bradley Cooper, then this might be the film you’ve been waiting for as he aptly demonstrates his ability to carry a movie.

OVERALL RATING: B-

Photo credit: Relativity Media

Limitless movie poster