Ahh, drugs. One of those movies that leave you confused whether to sympathise with the protagonist or to just be a sadist and watch his exploits. The movie is about a struggling writer (been there) suffering through writer’s block (I feel ya), till his girlfriend leaves him because he’s lazy, under-achieving and broke (yeah, let’s not go there.)

One day he stumbles upon his ex-brother-in-law who offers him a FDA-approved drug that’ll get his life on track. So, of course he takes it and what follows is a visual trip to wonderland where all his dreams come true and leads to a downfall (a bad-trip, colloquially speaking) where he sees the lowest of lows when he runs out of the drug.

At one point you’re not sure if you want him to get more drugs and see him achieve more than he deserves or whether you want to see him struggle and get tortured as he runs out. Whatever side you choose, says a lot about you as a viewer. REVHUMAN decided to re-watch this movie after its mention in the Netflix documentary ‘Take your pills’. It’s mention was of course not a positive one as the movie is a positive representation of consuming performance enhancing drugs and getting ‘an edge’ with surpassable repercussions.

The movie is thrilling, and is structured like a substance high, it starts dull, picks up quickly, is pleasant and suddenly tapers off and drags. The story-telling is exaggerated and you’re left unsure what message the movie is trying to convey in terms of using performance-enhancers/drugs. The movie is well-made and Bradley Cooper does a good job in all the phases of his character’s journey. Watch it for him and not for the high.

2.5/5

How did you like the movie? Were you rooting for Cooper’s character? Let us know in the comments section.