Limitless Movie Analysis

Prescribe to Thrive
Neil Burger 's Limitless is a film about a struggling writer named Eddie Morra (played by Bradley Cooper) who comes across an experimental wonder drug that grants a massive increase in intelligence and focus while under the drug 's high. This drug, known as NZT-48, allows Eddie to go from a unsuccessful writer to multi millionaire king of the capitalist establishment within mere months. The movie follows Eddie 's journey from his life of ramen noodles every night to his life of first class flights. Not only is the film about his almost instant rise to success, but it is also filled with action packed scenes where Eddie must deal with murderous loan sharks who seek to steal his stash of NZT-48 (Limitless). What if the reason
For example in the middle of the film Eddie 's girlfriend Lindy is being chased by another user of NZT-48 who is trying to acquire the stash of pills she had on her. She called Eddie wanting to know what to do and he advises her to take one of the pills implying that it will be clear once she is on the drug (Limitless). This shows that in the movie that taking that little clear pill instantly fixes a situation. This is a view that is shared in the American society today. If you 're looking for proof, just think about how when a child is diagnosed with a hyperactivity disorder (ADD, ADHD) the doctor often immediately prescribes adderall. It is also easy to see the American people 's infatuation with drugs by simply looking at our current number of prescriptions filled at pharmacies annually. An active data table hosted by The Henry J. Kaiser Family foundation states that about four billion prescriptions are filled annually (Kaiser) .This is enough prescriptions for every person in the country, children and adults, to have twelve each. Once a person is on a drug it is often hailed as an immediate fix to the problem, but many don’t think or just don’t care about the long-term side effects it could
This is idea is deeply embedded within the plot of the entire film. For example, the main reason for Eddie taking his first dose of NZT-48 is because he felt that he was out of time to write his novel and that he would be evicted from his dreary dwelling if he didn’t submit it to the publisher soon (Limitless). The Economist states in its article, "Why is Everyone so Busy?" that "time has been quantifiable as money since the 1800 's. We have been paid hourly wages ever since and any waste of time frustrates us"(The Economist). This visible in almost every aspect of the movie because the thought of NZT-48 is supposed to make us wish we had a drug like it that could maximize our efficiency and in turn make us wealthy exactly like