Limitless

You know how God works in mysterious ways?

Well, I decided to ask Mike what he wanted to do tonight after the kids go to bed.  I fully expected he'd want to watch the Rangers game because they've been on one heckuva streak lately.  Now understand, for me, that would be as much fun as water boarding or pulling out my fingernails or putting toothpicks in my eyes to keep my lids open.

Yeah.  Not a big baseball fan, especially televised.  In the park?  Where I can sample all kinds of normally off-limit foods and beverages?  A little more interested.  But, still not so much that I wish any of the boys to go pro.

So, asking this question, with an apparent (in my mind) answer, was a sacrifice.  Times twenty.

To my great surprise, Mike said "HEY.  Didn't Limitless come out yesterday?"

I could have fainted dead on the ground right then and there.

"Yes.  Yes it did."* I said.

And I steadied myself against the wall, just waiting for the inevitable THUD when I hit the hardwoods.  Because, we were, after all, talking about a movie with Bradley Cooper.  That my husband wanted to see.  With me in the room, watching with him.

GOD IS SO GOOD!

Wait.  You don't know who Bradley Cooper is?  Check THIS out.

Sorry didn't mean to make you almost faint, too.

Now, granted, Mr. Cooper has not made the most high quality films up to this point.  Think 20-something-metrosexual-wannabes-flock-to-the-movies type films.  Or, women who are old enough to be his Mother or hire him as the pool boy or develop drooling habits when he gets near.

But, I had high hopes for Limitless.  Or, at least, high expectations of how fun it would be to watch Mr. C., with my husband's explicit permission, for 105 minutes.

Let's just say, the first 30 minutes of the movie Bradley looked less than stellar.  I've dated guys that had as much drive as he did, too.  Sad, sad commentary on boys who never grow into real men.

Then, enter the piece d' resistance that changes Eddie's trajectory.  It's an innocuous looking pill that comes from a very unlikely source.  Frankly, if the author of the original short story from which this movie is based made the connection that the pill opens Eddie's eyes to the world around him and, thus, made the pill look exactly like a thick contact lens, then I deserve a prize for catching on to his logic.

Let's just say the battle of good and evil is all over this movie.  There's free sex, drugs, alcohol, God complexes, murder.  Pretty much a kitchen sink of scum.

I'd like to commit to this movie in either a love or hate way, but I'm very on the fence about it.  I thought it was well-acted, had a nice plot twist toward the end, portrayed drugs in a way that would make you never want to take them, and showed the temporal nature of wealth.

But, pretty much, the movie followed the typical stereotypes:  scum bag lawyers and drug dealers, company CEOs out for nothing but their own skin, ne'r-do-well writers, women with power who just can't help but fall for the good-looking, wrong guy who really just loves the thought of being in love but has no idea what real commitment is.  I think I would have loved to see this movie punch through those stereotypes and show me that there is something underneath the hood of a real jerkwad to give me a reason to feel like he should be redeemed.

And, the ending?  Still shaking my head in wonder about that.

I'm giving Limitless two pinkies up.  If you are head-over for Bradley Cooper, you'll enjoy most of the film.  If you could give a rats-rear about him, you still might like the nice turn by DeNiro and the, often, beautiful scenery in the movie. 

I'd say, just as a retrospective Eddie might:  take at your own risk.


*Little nod to "Phineas and Ferb" for you parents of Disney Channel children.  Momma love for that cartoon.