Unlimited Awesomeness

Rating: 9/10 (20 March 2011)

I was expecting to see some boring movie, but boy was I wrong. A lot of my friends wanted to see this, and I had no idea this movie even existed (I don't watch TV).
Right off the bat, the film opens much in the same vein as Kick-Ass, where we see a skyscraper and someone standing up on top of it: this time being our main protagonist Edward Mora. He's contemplating on jumping during an inner monologue as a bunch of thugs are trying to break into his apartment.
Of course, we go into a flashback, seeing a down-on-our-luck Bradley Cooper being a loser and drinking and throwing up on his boss. His hot girlfriend breaks up with him, giving us some exposition on how she got the job as an editor. Edward himself is trying to write a book, but he's suffering from writer's block.
Immediately he runs into the brother of his previous marriage, Verne. He claims to quit drug dealing, but it turns out he has a new kind of drug that accesses a hundred percent of your brain. Edward resists, but Verne passes him the drug anyway. With nothing going for him, Edward downs the pill and tests out the ability with his landlord's wife who constantly nags at him for not paying his rent. When the drug takes effect, Edward access points where he absorbed knowledge, mentions her law school studies, and sleeps with her. Soon he's cleaning his apartment, finishes his book, and the next day the effects wear off.
Without giving the rest of the movie away, Edward gets a huge supply of the drug and people are after him. Normally I don't like this kind of story, where someone possesses something no one else has and there's these bad guys chasing them for some reason, but here it works. I enjoyed this movie from beginning to end, and halfway through I realized it was telling a STORY and a good one at that.
Bradley Cooper does an excellent job here. I hear that originally Shia Labitch was supposed to play this part originally, but he had to bow out due to a motorcycle accident. Thank God. I think Bradley Cooper was the perfect choice for the film, because he's believable. I also have to mention Robert De Niro, who's... well, Robert De Niro but it's great to see him in this movie anyway. He plays this big tycoon that Edward has to schmooze and every one of those scenes were riveting. Excellent writing there.
With a fantastic script, a capable director, and wonderful acting, I could only sum up this movie as brilliant. So far, this one is in my top 10 for 2011. The year is early, but the bar has been set this year. I sure hope the rest of the films live up to it.