A preening, fairly addictive movie about addiction. Bradley Cooper is Eddie, a blocked New York writer who takes mystery pills from an untrustworthy man. They give him fabulous powers, and Manhattan becomes the cracked mirror of Eddie’s rise to power. Of course, his real drug is ego, and Cooper achieves the most hustling fever of egotism since Christian Bale in American Psycho. Robert De Niro is a gray barracuda of greed, Abbie Cornish is very Sharon Stone as Eddie’s love, and Andrew Howard’s scary villain has an unforgettable scene involving blood. Neil Burger directed with hot conviction. He goes for broke and delivers. (2011) — David Elliott
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