Cooper's Eddie is a fun guy! But not so bright, for a super-genius.

Rating: 7/10 (26 February 2019)

A cool plot hook sets up the story, and Bradley Cooper gets the job done both as a burned out writer and as a pill-enhanced super genius. The action is delivered consistently and tension maintained throughout. The cinematography is top-notch, and effective supporting roles are provided by Abbie Cornish and Robert DeNiro.
However, viewers may find their capacity for suspending disbelief strained at times, when it comes to the protagonist's decision-making while on the genius pill. First, after cranking out a sure-fire bestseller novel in four days and getting a brokerage account started as a brilliant day-trader, dude decides it's a good idea to procure a bag of cash from a Russian loan shark who keeps in shape by breaking kneecaps. What's up? Eddie doesn't understand the power of compounding returns? If he can turn a few hundred bucks into a few thousand in a couple days with his newly acquired statistical analytics, why not run with that for a few more weeks and see what happens? Why on earth would he ever want to walk away from that sweet deal to grovel for a job at the firm owned by DeNiro's character, a guy who regularly eats his staff for lunch? And after earning extra millions on that gig, how is it that genius Eddie would forget about the money owed to loanshark guy? And beyond all that, why is it that genius Eddie finally aspires to the crapshoot that is American politics? Because, as we know, the most brilliant geniuses in the world are found in the U.S. House and Senate. Makes you wonder why Bill Gates or Warren Buffett never ran for Prez.