Review: Limitless

I have never liked the phrase “turn off your brain and enjoy” in film criticism because it implies that there are mindless movies that are entertaining, a notion I don’t buy into. Certainly, unrealistic actions can take place in good movies, but these don’t require the audience to literally stupefy themselves in order for enjoyment to occur. A movie that requires you to “turn off your brain” is, by contrast, created in a process absent intelligence (think of Michael Bay and Friedberg/Seltzer productions) and to embrace it would be to encourage such mental vacancy. Recognizing this, I believe what most critics are trying to say when employing the trendy phrase is that the film in question is, to use another cliche, one that you can simply sit back, relax, and enjoy — it may not reinvent the wheel or deliberately challenge the viewer, but it is competently made and interesting enough to entertain. Case-in-point: Neil Burger’s Limitless exemplifies this description, but pea-brained it is not.

There have been a lot of films about ordinary people becoming superhuman in the last couple of years, but few of them have been as grounded in reality as this one, thanks to director Burger’s attention to character and classical style outside of the film’s most fantastical scenes. Bradley Cooper plays protagonist Eddie Morra, a novelist plagued by writer’s block to such a degree that he is nearly indistinguishable from a bum as he walks the streets of Manhattan. One day, he bumps into his ex-wife’s drug-dealing brother Vernon (Johnny Whitworth), who takes note of his sorry condition. Vernon offers Eddie what he describes as a wonder pill approved by the FDA and soon to be sold by pharmaceutical companies, a side-effect-free capsule that will take care of all of his problems. While he denies needing it, Eddie ultimately takes the “NZT” and ends up having a manic high in which he possesses superhuman intelligence and creativity. He can absorb information at an alarming rate and recall memories he didn’t even know he had. But when he heads back to his supplier for more pills, Eddie finds Vernon dead in his apartment. Clearly, NZT is not the perfectly safe pill he was told; in fact, it is highly addictive and a lot of people want it. Blinded by its power, however, Eddie’s first order of business if to find Vernon’s hidden supply. He does, but it’s only a matter of time before his newfound abilities–Eddie finishes his book in a day and later becomes a successful investment banker–put him in danger.

As I said before, the film’s approach is refreshingly classical, despite subject-matter that would likely send a less assured filmmaker straight to rapid cuts and schizophrenic action scenes. Instead, Burger (who also directed the less-flashy The Lucky Ones and The Illusionist) frames the story in a much more traditional way, allowing it to play out more as a suspenseful thriller than a celebration the effects of NZT. For instance, Burger employs standard first-person narration from Eddie, which from the beginning gives the proceedings a human feel. Furthermore, the problems that NZT creates for Eddie are primarily expressed through his relationships with people–his ex-wife (Anna Friel), his girlfriend (Abbie Cornish), his powerful new employer (Robert De Niro)–making it a lot like most real drugs. Thus by keeping Limitless about people rather than style, Burger keeps the material interesting for all audience members, not just teenage boys. Sure, there are stylistically-embellished sequences to show the mental effects of NZT–for instance, one in which CGI numbers float around him and others with a sort of tunnel-vision effect as he prowls the streets–but they are always tastefully used and secondary to the grander narrative.

Equally crucial to the human core of Limitless is the lead performance by Bradley Cooper, which proves that the actor is capable of far more than the ensemble comedy acting that has made him famous in movies like The Hangover and Wedding Crashers. While Eddie is not the most original character to come along–how many writers’ struggles have been the basis of films, hundreds?–Cooper never treats him as anything less than complex and real. Like Burger, the actor does not simply become a vehicle for demonstrating the coolness of NZT; while he captures the ecstasy of the drug, he also is deeply aware of the consequences. Fictional as the premise is, I would argue that this is one of the more compelling portraits of drug addiction in contemporary cinema, and Cooper is a big part of this success. That isn’t to say that Limitless takes the viewer to any especially dark places–it is very much the slick, sit-back-and-relax type of film I described in the introduction–but rather that it is entertainment with a purpose.

The sole flaw keeping Limitless from being one of the best popcorn flicks of the year is its ending, which lets everyone off too easily. Without spoiling anything, I will say that the last scene detrimentally abandons a lot of the aforementioned consequences and human qualities. Perhaps they wanted to keep the story open for a sequel, despite the fact that sequels are the domain of superhero movies, which Limitless really isn’t. Then again, if Limitless 2 were to come along and be just as well-made and engaging, complain I would not.

* * *

Limitless (2011, USA). Produced by Bradley Cooper, Ricardo Del Río, Leslie Dixon, Jason Felts, Adam Fields, Ryan Kavanaugh, Scott Kroopf, Patty Long, Patrick Peach, and Tucker Tooley. Directed by Neil Burger. Written for the screen by Leslie Dixon, based on the novel by Alan Glynn. Starring Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish, Andrew Howard, Anna Friel, and Johnny Whitworth. Distributed by Relativity Media. Rated R, with a running time of 105 minutes.