Smart Pill Conquers Reality

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2011)

The best thing about this film is the pacing. It does not stick around too long & keeps the action moving. The cast does a good job. Robert De Niro is good in a supporting role. Bradley Cooper carries most of the load including narration. Abbie Cornish is the main love interest. The rest of the roles get smaller in support of these. Neil Burger's direction is fast & crisp.
Where last years Inception dealt with layers of dreams, this one centers on one dream - a pill which makes you smarter so you can use your entire brain. While writing a novel which Coopers character does is a noble thing to do with that ability, I am not so sure that being able to use my entire brain that I would do it for a couple of items.
Scoring day trading on the stock market is a good use for being smart? It would do wonders for the US Government budget when the IRS collects Taxes from this man (along with the Gambling revenue he owes taxes on). Still, it seems to me the intellect could be put to better uses.
The film presents an interesting theory that being smart can get Eddie Morra into bed with women. Perhaps that would be true if the pill can help you read that person's mind. Being smarter can make you into a better fighter? In theory it could help, but without muscles & reflexes it takes more than thinking to make it through a fight.
Still, you have to put reality into the ticket taker at the theater door when you see this one. It employs the same type of flashback format that I saw in Mission Impossible 2 in that it starts near the end, goes back to the beginning, and then winds past the flashback.
It is a single dream, but at least it is effective. I didn't want to think too much on a Friday night after a tough week anyhow.