Holy Rollers

really loved & enjoyed this movie. It was engaging from the beginning. It used dark colors which helped set the mood for the cold Brooklyn winter. It's a human story between temptation & wanting to do the right thing. The main character is torn between tradition& morality. Very touching, & extremely well acted by all. If you liked the Social Network, you will also enjoy this movie; it has the same fast paced, engaging speed; you really want to know what is going to happen next. Jesse Eisenberg's acting really portrays his moral dilemma with wanting to be an observant Hasidic Jew, but being irresistibly tempted by the money of drug dealing.

I get the source material is what it is, but the few moments of tension build up never pay off.

I would much rather read a 5-10 min article about this story than see a full movie.

It was ok based on ture events , however I did start losing interest about half way through.

It's 1998 Brooklyn. Sam Gold (Jesse Eisenberg) is an Orthodox Jew. He works in his father's fabric store. He wants to marry Zeldy Lazar but he doesn't have the money. His friend Leon's brother Yosef (Justin Bartha) offers him a job. He asks Leon to join him. They get tricked into smuggling ecstasy from Amsterdam to New York for Israeli Jackie. Sam rises in the organization recruiting other Orthodox Jews. Rachel (Ari Graynor) is Jackie's brassy girlfriend.

I would have liked Sam to be a good guy corrupted into this world. The problem is that he's a money-grubbing selfish kid to begin with. They're also a bit too stupid at the start. As for a crime drama, there is limited drama. It's not that exciting. The premise offers some potential but it's not that compelling.

Kevin Asch's "Holy Rollers" tells the story of a group of Hasidic Jews recruited as mules to smuggle ecstasy from the Netherlands to the United States. In addition to the main story, there's also a look into the Hasidic world. The main character Sam Gold (Jesse Eisenberg) is expected to marry a woman chosen for him, and he is shown to be afraid to touch a woman not chosen for him. The movie shows the Hasidim having a lifestyle very similar to the evangelical Christians. The look at Sam's life keeps the audience interested in him, but most of the characters aren't really developed enough. Even so, the movie mostly held my attention, both as a look at the drug smuggling story, and a look at the Hasidic culture. Worth seeing.