Ed's Review Dot Com

Many Rivers Productions, Boy of the Year, Intermedia

Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish, Andrew Howard, Anna Friel, Johnny Whitworth, Tomas Arana, Robert John Burke, Darren Goldstein

Eddie Morra’s (Bradley Cooper) life is going nowhere. He’s taken an advance for his novel, which is gone, and he hasn’t written a word. His girlfriend left him because he’s never going to amount to anything, and he’s about to be evicted for non-payment of the rent. Suddenly he accidentally bumps into his ex-wife’s brother who is now representing a drug company. He offers him a little clear pill and tells him to take it. When he does, suddenly he’s able to think clearly, as this modifies the synapses in the brain allowing you to use the full brain power. Suddenly things that you heard and did not understand are memories, and you can learn foreign languages and scientific research in minutes. Eddie’s life changes for the better as he finishes his novel, and starts making tons of money in the stock market drawing the attention of a major corporate mogul Carl Van Loon (Robert DeNiro). The problem is getting a supply of the drug and once you have it, keeping it from everyone who wants it from you. And no one knows what the side effects will be.

This is a depraved mind blowing adventure. It seems plausible to our feeble minds, but seeing Eddie as limitless makes us jealous. This is actually a pretty good story. It was fun to watch, and the chases and fight scenes were well done and exciting. Robert DeNiro plays a bit of a heavy looking for a fall without realizing it, and it’s a good role for him. It’s humorous the way people treat Eddie different when he’s cleaned up and dressed in a suit rather than the disheveled unshaven slob. If you dress the part, people treat you like you look. This movie will remind you a bit of the movie “Charly” with Cliff Robertson, based on the novel Flowers for Algernon, but it’s not really the same. In this movie the emphasis is on the chase, and trying to keep away from everyone who wants what he wants. He has no idea who knows about the drug, and who else wants it. At every turn someone is out to get him. And without the drug he goes back to a doofus in a few hours. I really enjoyed the film. I can’t call it classic cinema, but it did pretty decent in the box office when it opened and it is pretty decent. It’s probably not the greatest film out right now, but at least make a mental note to look for this puppy when it comes out on DVD. I’m glad I watched it. It was a fun experience.

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