Limitless (2011) ***

Limitless opens with the Hollywood stereotype of writer Edward Morra (Bradley Cooper) sitting in front of a blank screen with nothing on it. You know there's a deadline or advance riding on this. His girlfriend (Abbie Cornish) has dumped him. He's a guy on the ropes with a knockout punch waiting to knock his jaw loose. By a chance meeting in the street Eddie stumbles upon something that could change the world that isn't an everlasting gob stopper. It's a pill that can be described as steroids for your brain where you use more than twenty percent of your available brainpower, holding and recalling vast amounts of data that you thought you forgot. Our hero Eddie is obviously going to use this wonder drug to his advantage, but with something to good to be true there's going to be somebody else out there that wants it. The film basically follows Eddie as he balances his gifts, the people who want to take them away, and his own sanity.


I have to say that Limitless is an amazing concept that is very intriguing on the surface. I thought it was a cool idea, the whole pill to the brain thing. The thing is that the film is a bit contrived and very predictable in nature. There will be no surprises because they don't leap out at you, they call before they come for a visit. Considering the trailer ruins what could have been a great plot twist also lowers the rating of the film for me (blame the studio). I know this is a movie about a noggin drug, but moments even exceed those plot points- killers that will run through 70+ people in a park, Scarface's apartment building. Over the top all the way.


This is an entertaining film, but nothing earth shattering. I'm sure in a few weeks it will be forgotten until the DVD comes out and then it will gain a slight freshness to people who don't go to a theater. And then you'll never hear about it again. A great plot poorly executed. Entertaining for the time being, but out of your system in a matter of days.