Limitless (2011)

Limitless hands Bradley Cooper a pill that makes him the smartest man on Earth, and his big plan is day trading. That’s the dream. Infinite genius, used to read stock charts faster. Neil Burger shoots every high in warm gold and every crash in cold gray, and those endless zoom shots racing through New York streets make you dizzy in a fun way. Cooper is great as the before guy, greasy hair and zero pages written, and even better as the after guy who talks like he’s narrating his own documentary. Robert De Niro shows up as a finance titan and spends most of his scenes looking suspicious of the furniture. Then the last act piles on a loan shark, a missing stash and a plot that gets dumber the smarter Eddie gets. A 6.4 because the first hour is a blast and the ending takes a shortcut it didn’t earn. $171 says you reorganize your whole desk at midnight like that’ll unlock your brain.

What works: Bradley Cooper sells both versions of Eddie, and the warm-gold look plus the zoom shots make being smart feel like a rush, which is the point.

What doesn’t: The plot gets lazier as Eddie gets smarter, and the loan shark subplot feels like it wandered in from a cheaper movie.

Who it’s for: Anyone who has ever wished for a cheat code the night before a big exam.