Movie Review: Limitless

I finally saw "Limitless" a couple of nights ago. It wasn't quite what I expected. I expected a power struggle between Bradley Cooper, the brilliant drug taker, and Robert DeNero, the guy who provides the drugs. But that's not what happened. Not until a lot later in the movie that you'd expect. Like a LOT.

Imagine if there was a drug that actually made you like it feels it makes you. If you feel strong it's because you are strong. If you feel brilliant it's because you are brilliant. But then the drug wears off. Once in awhile, no problem. Taken daily...

So that's what this movie is. On one level it's about a guy who has found the fountain of fucking brilliance. On another, it's a movie about drug addiction. Other users turn out to be dead or in the hospital. Withdrawl effects turn out to be blackouts, headaches, sweating, a pronounced limp, and death.

Like the trailer shows, he finishes a book he's been working on for years in days. He figures out the stock market and turns thousands into millions in a week. He has women falling all over him. But then there's the loan shark. Even after paying him back the guy finds out about the pills and starts trading the pills for not skinning Cooper and suffocating him with his own flesh. And there's someone with a knife following him everywhere.

There's only one thing that keeps me from recommending this movie for your kids as an anti-drug movie. There's a happy ending. You just have to be sure to talk to your kids about all the dead or strung out people in the movie.

But I enjoyed the movie. I like films about people being brilliant. The "The Thomas Crown Affair" remake was better than the original. "Limitless" isn't like either but is still pretty good. That said, I don't plan on getting it on DVD.