Wick's Review

Summary - Very Good 3.5

A designer drug leads to designer suits, a designer lifestyle, an inevitable come-down, and then mystery. Is that limitless? Perhaps, though the title Limitless is harder to get your mind around than the actual movie.

A classic story of ambition unfairly achieved – sheathed in pharmaceutical mumbo-jumbo – is sexily delivered by Brad Cooper’s leading man and cannily aided by Robert De Niro’s elder schmuck. This double helping of star power makes the medicine go down.

It holds together almost till the end, when it falls apart like a cheap suit.

But it’s smart and winning till then, and certainly worth a view.

Acting - Good 3.0

Bradley Cooper’s got upside, maybe not limitless upside, but leading man upside. His character’s transition from strung-out writer to Master of the Universe is seamless and impressive.

Robert De Niro is a past master at playing hugely accomplished men. His speech to Cooper’s character about what it takes to get to their penthouse level is a classic. Thanks to BigdaddyDave for pointing it out in his review.

Abby Cornish underwhelms. Sure her role was small and episodic, but she brought nothing special to it.

Johnny Whitworth, OTOH, doesn’t fritter away his small role as the pusher behind the designer drug. Fairly jumping off the screen, Whitworth has apparently been around a long time but deserves to be a bigger star.

Film - Very Good 3.5

Edge - Sordid 2.6

Reality - Surreal 2.5

The movie’s designer drug extraordinaire is something of a Coke Lite. Unlike the real thing, the cinematic fiction imparts actual heightened competence. OTOH, it doesn’t induce anyone to lick porcelain or anything like that. They’ve civilized it. That’s how you know it’s not real.

3 Comments

• Wick Apr 10, 2014 6:13PM

  Regarding modern marvel’s Review
  “Any time Bradley Cooper’s not on screen, the movie misses a step.” Good observation.

• BigdaddyDave Apr 21, 2011 6:41AM

  I’d have to give the nod to Inception, with its impressive special effects and far more cerebral plot.

  I suppose it would depend on your taste in movies, or drugs for that matter. Limitless features a drug that closely resembles speed, with far less hallucinatory effects than in Inception, which probably could be compared to LSD. Inception dealt more with escaping from reality to dreams, whereas Limitless deals more with reaching a higher potential while still being conscious.

  From a reality standpoint, I think we would be far more likely to see the drug from Limitless than the ones from Inception. But, at the end of the day, I’ll pick Inception as the better movie.

• Wick Apr 20, 2011 10:13PM

  Regarding BigdaddyDave’s Review
  Which is the better designer drug movie BigD, this or Inception?

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