LIMITLESS review

There's an old joke, where a buyer pays for and consumes rabbit crap pellets marketed to him as "smartenin' pills". Later, he comes back complaining that he took the pills, but doesn't feel smarter. "You need more pills, then!", retorts the seller. The buyer concedes, and goes on his way. This continues until a day when the buyer shows up, somehow enlightened: "I'm on to your scam! These aren't smartenin' pills - they're rabbit poop!" To this the seller delivers the punch line, "Ah! Now you're finally getting smarter!"

"Limitless", the new film from director Neil Burger ("The Illusionist", "The Lucky Ones") appears to turn this premise on its head - what if there really were smartenin' pills? Bradley Cooper plays Eddie, a scraggly, struggling writer living in New York City who comes upon a stash of an experimental new drug that temporarily enhances ones' brain usage exponentially, to one hundred percent. The result is a whirlwind of clarity - he pounds out that amazing new sci-fi novel that's been buzzing around in his head for who knows how long, dazzling his editor at the publishing house. But that's just the tip of the iceberg - before long, he's effortlessly analyzing financial market algorithms, and making a killing. The girl who dumped him at the story's beginning (Abbie Cornish) resumes interest in him, and he catches the eye of an overlord of high finance, played by Robert De Niro. From here, the sky's the limit...

But, there's a catch. (Isn't there always?) Actually, there's a number of catches:

Catch #1: The shady character that first turned Eddie onto the pills is mixed up with some bad guys, and it isn't long before the thugs are after Eddie. Murder and violence ensues.

Catch #2: Other people who've taken the pills start to die due to medical complications. Eddie begins suffering blackouts during fits of affluent debauchery.

Catch #3: The pills are, in their own way, highly addictive. Naturally.

So for Eddie, if the frying pan doesn't get him, the fire will, right? Not necessarily - Eddie starts doubling his doses, in an effort to boost his newfound clarity, maintain his "meteoric rise" and outrun both fate and the bad guys. Can he do it? I won't spoil that here, but I will say that although "Limitless" does harbor some sort of moral center, it's a decidedly unconventional one. By the time the closing credits roll, what began as a flashy character study is revealed to have been something very different all the while. Analysis of this is something that will have to wait for a more spoiler-free piece than this, but the analysis is, dare I say it, worthwhile.

One thing I appreciate about Burger's and screenwriter Leslie Dixon's handling of this particular concept (the source material being a novel by Alan Glynn) is that it doesn't confuse mental expansion and brain capacity with outright intelligence.  Yes, Eddie now has the ability to utilize his whole brain, but is he really any smarter for it?  Do these smartenin' pills live up to their sales pitch? Clearly, they help him tap into his full potential as a writer - but how does he choose to further apply that passion once the book is turned in? He doesn't. He loses himself in a get-rich-quick existence; one adorned with all the torrid accoutrements of such a trip. Is he spiraling or soaring? As the film grows increasingly manic (something reminiscent of a modern cinematic drug trip visualization (think "GoodFellas meets "Requiem for a Dream"), but different enough to stand on its own), its legitimately tough to tell if it's one, the other, or both. Clearly Eddie was never out and out stupid, but then again, he did take the initial dubious pill in the first place - how smart was that??

We live in a culture that tends to confuse things like rapid recall and the ability to run with the big dogs with actual, pure intelligence. While those traits can certainly be characteristics of high intelligence, we nonetheless have zero reason to believe that a human brain suddenly firing on all cylinders would somehow bring about a newfound capacity for logic that the individual heretofore lacked, thus mending any and all inherent moral shortcomings. Somewhere, amid "Limitless'" increasingly scrambled narrative lays this truth. Memory, recall, and even drive may improve, but on the whole, Eddie is now simply a considerably enhanced version of his former self, any pre-existing flaws equally decompressed. Although this aspect of "Limitless" isn't rubbed in the viewer's face, it is an important one; perhaps even an essential one.

Burger presents this story with aplomb, starting with a bravura continuous opening titles sequence and a compellingly witty voice-over accompaniment of a high-rise suicidal flash-forward. Through it all, the quickly up-and-coming Bradley Cooper proves himself as a capable leading man, his magnetic wit running far beyond his trademark wavy surfer dude hair and unnaturally piercing eyes. Burger may be steering this crazy ride, but Cooper unmistakably carries it through all its twisty-turny permutations.

All that said, "Limitless" is not a perfect film. The first half is an eye-opening tour de force, as compelling and sure-handed as anyone could hope for. But once Eddie drifts into the realm of high finance, never to return - once Robert De Niro shows up - the film becomes something less of a pure cinematic experience than it was. Like Eddie himself, the story becomes fractured and unfocused, tail spinning from here to there until it finally jumps off the rails in a strange and scary way. While all of this can be intellectually rationalized (see above), there is an undeniable sloppiness about the second half, as the many loose-ended plot details - so important before - are either given a lip-service wrap-up or altogether abandoned. All in all, the filmmakers' choices here make for a better intellectual exercise than a satisfying time at the movies.

If there's a joke here, who is it on? In any case, however the increasingly heart-thumping story goes for Eddie, some things never change - the smartenin' pills are rabbit crap after all - albeit rabbit crap for the 21st century. Ultimately, though, "Limitless" is not. It may prove flawed, but for those inclined to hash it out afterwards, it's worth a trip to the multiplex.

- Jim Tudor