Limitless (2011) * * *

 

Directed by:  Neil Burger

Starring:  Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro, Abbie Cornish, Andrew Howard

The hero of Limitless is Eddie Morra (Cooper), a New York writer with writer's block and unfulfilled potential.  From his narration, he is intelligent, but is still stuck in a rut after his girlfriend leaves him and his publisher is looking for pages from here or they'll ask for a refund on the advance.  Eddie is going nowhere, until a chance meeting with his former brother-in-law on the street.  The brother-in-law provides Eddie with a special pill called NZT.  The user takes it and suddenly his brain power spikes to near 100%.  Eddie finishes his novel in four days and then becomes a financial wizard whose acuity catches the eye of Carl Van Loon (DeNiro), a billionaire financier who thinks Eddie is the next big thing on Wall Street.

The trouble is, and there is plenty, Eddie's intelligence dwindles when the NZT wears off, and he's also into a Russian mobster for lots of money who instead settles for a supply of the pills.  When he runs out, Eddie has to score more for himself and the mobster and is entangled in a deadly web where Eddie fears being discovered and his secret weapon exposed.  On a thriller level, Limitless is pretty good.  Cooper is a sturdy hero with understandable motivations and of course a touch of selfishness.  Who wouldn't want to be one of the smartest people on the planet and make zillions in the process?  Eddie finds he can live with the withdrawal and the complications which ensue, morality be damned.

Limitless wisely chooses to make the villains far more despicable than the hero.  Eddie wants to better himself and win his girlfriend back.  The rest don't mind blackmailing or resorting to violence and perhaps killing Eddie if need be, so Eddie wins by default and Cooper's effortless charm doesn't hurt. Eddie is a man who only wants to better himself and finds a miraculous way to do so.  Who can blame him?  That's the hook of Limitless.