On the couch

What would you give up to be brilliant? Not just Crosaire-solving clever but top of the food chain more ideas than hot meals computer-for-a-noggin smart?
Would you risk drug addiction? Death? A painful combination of the two? If you want to see sombody very handsome wrestle with just such a quandry then Limitless is the flick for you.
Under-achieving writer Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) has his daytime drinking life turned upside down when, after getting dumped by his girlfriend, he meets his dodgy ex-brother-in-law who gives him a drug that supercharges his brain.
Inspired and chock full of intellectual energy, he spends his “trip” having a wash, tidying his house, finishing his book and generally getting his act together before having it all taken away again as the NZT ebbs out of his system. So where to get more?
The quest for more drugs and the clarity they provide leads poor Eddie into trouble and, while he wrangles his way out of the frying pan, he lands himself into the fire when he starts pointing his newly invigorated grey matter at the stock market and gets involved with Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro), a Warren Buffett-meets-Satan sort of character who offers Eddie a pile of dough to but expects results no matter what.
The “no matter what” in question comes in the form of the NZT’s side effects which cause Morro to start losing large chunks of time. He’s up and doing things – he just can’t remember what or with whom.
It’s all perfectly enjoyable and thrilling without requiring, ironically, too much thinking and has the added bonus of a cast that is more than capable of both looking and acting intelligent.
While he’s no Heath Ledger, Bradley Cooper does a good job of being both super smart and then super frazzled without being annoying or unbelievable. His on/off girlfriend, Abbie Cornish does well with her limited screen time and Robert De Niro dusts of some of his Louis Cypher from Angleheart schtick to make his billionaire appear slightly more threatening than a man with a gigantic bank account.
Although the thing about humans only using 20% of our brains is a load of nonsense – steaming great globbets of stupidity in fact – the idea of smart drugs is not an entirely far-fetched one and the story works both as a bit of science faction nonsense and an anti-drugs parable, so you can enjoy this and learn something all for the price of the rental.
I’ve got a bone to pick with The Lincoln Lawyer. Just the one mind. All in all it’s a throughly enjoyable flick that provides a nice line in legal thrills and ticks all the right boxes – twisty plot, charismatic lead and solid performances from a surprising array of actors but one thing irritated me from beginning to end. Why does Matther McConaughey’s raffish lawyer, Mickey Haller, do all his business from the back of his car, the titular Lincoln?
Other than that small (and petty) peeve, there’s very little else to dislike about the film. Haller, a lawyer who specialises in representing individuals from the wrong side of the tracks, gets tapped to represent a mega-wealthy LA socialite Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe) who’s accused of viciously beating and raping a bar girl.
What looks like a slam dunk “’Ee’s innocent guv’nah” case takes takes a few turns that leave Haller questioning if his spoiled Hollywood rich kid client is actually as blameless as he and the evidence claim or if he really is the morally bankrupt and possibly evil sociopath we all hope he is and Phillippe seems to specialise in playing.
Okay, so maybe the unresolved “Why is he in that car all the time?” question isn’t the only loose end that needs tying up.
There are a couple of plot threads that feel truncated, particularly in the final third, leaving the impression that there may have been about 15 minutes of the film lost somewhere in the cutting room – it’s a rare thing to ask for a little more exposition in a film but this may be one of the rare cases.
Not that the story is so enthralling and labyrinthine that to live without those details is to have the flick spoiled. The Lincoln Lawyer peddles a fine line in twists and turns but Inception it ain’t. A lot of what is revealed is half given away in the film’s trailer (you might want to avoid that actually) and the rest you could probably guess if you put your mind to it. But don’t. Don’t ruin it.
The film, much like McConaughey, is thoroughly good craic to watch without being overly taxing on the noggin but manages to surprise with real flashes of quality. It’s quite like Limitless in that respect. Neither movie are going to bother the Oscar nominating committee any time soon but both can hold their heads up high as glossy, enjoyable well-made thrillers – a cinematic animal that’s increasingly hard to come by.