This review has a problem, I saw this movie in a bus trip, so I didn’t get the beginning nor the end of it. However, the part I have seen I liked very much.
The whole point of this movie (at least, before the Ass Pull ending) was the deconstruction of the Escapist Character that our protagonist is. He begins as This Loser Is You, but then gets some drug that makes him super intelligent… and instead of enhancing his life, it ruins it.
I think this movie had very good scenes that were really the mark of a superior movie: Eddie loses significant part of the conversation with De Niro’s character that obviously show that there is another NTZ’s consumer in Wall Street. Even when he is now cooler than cool, his needy ex-wife and his old flame reject him. De Niro’s give him a The Reason You Suck Speech and Eddie ignores him completely. Even when he is cool, he gets rejected time and again.
There is a reason for that: his skills, ultimately, didn’t matter. What matters is who you are, how are you affecting the people that surrounds you and if your actions make them happy or hurt them. This little truth – betrayed by the end of the movie – is the mark of a great movie. I think they must have chose the Darker And Edgier ending. Sure, nobody likes a movie with a Downer Ending, but nobody is impressed by a Executive Meddling imposed Happy Ending. I fear this movie will be forgotten very soon.
A deconstruction of the Escapist Character
This review has a problem, I saw this movie in a bus trip, so I didn’t get the beginning nor the end of it. However, the part I have seen I liked very much.
The whole point of this movie (at least, before the Ass Pull ending) was the deconstruction of the Escapist Character that our protagonist is. He begins as This Loser Is You, but then gets some drug that makes him super intelligent… and instead of enhancing his life, it ruins it.
I think this movie had very good scenes that were really the mark of a superior movie: Eddie loses significant part of the conversation with De Niro’s character that obviously show that there is another NTZ’s consumer in Wall Street. Even when he is now cooler than cool, his needy ex-wife and his old flame reject him. De Niro’s give him a The Reason You Suck Speech and Eddie ignores him completely. Even when he is cool, he gets rejected time and again.
There is a reason for that: his skills, ultimately, didn’t matter. What matters is who you are, how are you affecting the people that surrounds you and if your actions make them happy or hurt them. This little truth – betrayed by the end of the movie – is the mark of a great movie. I think they must have chose the Darker And Edgier ending. Sure, nobody likes a movie with a Downer Ending, but nobody is impressed by a Executive Meddling imposed Happy Ending. I fear this movie will be forgotten very soon.