Why Stop Now - Auf Umwegen in den Entzug

Review: For some unknown reason, I actually enjoyed this movie. The storyline shocked me because it just goes from one crazy situation to the next. The director cleverly mixed it up with humour and drama which makes the movie entertaining and interesting at the same time. Every single character has there own personal issues to deal with. The main character is a piano genius but he has to battle with obstacles that are put in his way before he has a clear mind to go through an audition. With drug dealing, love, troubled sister and stuck up auntie, there is enough material to keep you going through the short hour and twenty minutes. Enjoyable!

Round-Up: It's good to watch a movie were Tracy Morgan isn't being an annoying idiot. He was actually good in this movie, as the drug dealer, and his sidekick was a great choice by the director. Eisenberg usually plays the same type of roles in all his movies, but I thought that he was also good in this movie. You can clearly see that he is actually playing the piano for real which shows that he has a real talent to fall back on. His mother was another character that played her part well as a drug addict. In all, all of the cast put in great performances in this low budget movie that should have got more recognition.

I recommend this movie to people who are into there funny dramas about a mother and son struggling with personal issues. 6/10

After viewing this I was shocked at the current rating of just 3.7/10. I'm sure it will start to climb up from that over time. I was never a fan of Jesse Eisenberg but he did a decent job with this. I admit the script could have been better and a few scenes could have used a re-shoot, but in the end the project deserves a decent review so I'm giving it one.

The story involves a struggling drug addicted mother Penny portrayed by Melissa Leo, her young daughter Nicole and her college age son Eli(Eisenberg). It begins with Eli beginning what proved to be a very ruff day for him, his plan being to drop off mom at rehab and head to a piano audition for a prestigious music school. Simple enough, but when mom finds out the rehab won't accept her because of a clean urine, her & Eli are sent off on a mission for drugs to get her a positive drug screen to get her accepted. Again the simple becomes complicated as her drug supplier Sprinkles played by Tracy Morgan is all out & Eli & his mom are sent out on a mission with Sprinkles & his brother Black to secure his resupply.

I guess it's fair to say this was a feel good movie of sorts. Don't expect to be ROTFLOL, although it does have it's funny moments. Every character involved has their flaws but overall they are decent people. Please don't dismiss this as junk from the rating, yes I doubt the film will be winning any awards & there certainly wasn't any Oscar worthy performances but it does have redeeming qualities. I was glad I watched it(and I'm normally not a fan of Eisenburg or Morgan)so I recommend giving it a shot. It is at least worthy of a 7/10

Eli Bloom (Jesse Eisenberg) is a piano protégé being dragged into an audition to a fancy music school. Instead, his main concern is trying to push his mother Penny Bloom (Melissa Leo) into drug rehab. She constantly refuses to go while trying to score as they drive around with drug dealer Sprinkles (Tracy Morgan).

Tracy Morgan is completely miscasted. I keep thinking this is a joke but he's never funny. In fact, the whole movie is like that. Jesse and Melissa play very annoying characters. They almost never do things that they're suppose to do. It's so frustrating that any joke never comes off properly. This was suppose to be wacky especially with the revolutionary war re-enactors but I never laughed once. At the core of this, basically how are we supposed to laugh at people who are so self-defeating.

A college student en route to an important piano audition, has to score drugs for his mother so she can be admitted at the drug rehabilitation center with tainted urine. What a premise!!! I didn't know what to expect when I first saw this drama / comedy / action film. But, "Why stop Now" is an entertaining unpredictable fast paced film with a stellar cast from start to finish. Talk about a dysfunctional family including a younger sister who insists on talking through a sock named "Julio." These quirky characters are well written and at times surprising. The story follows Eli bloom in the span of 24 hours and excitement ensues with the countdown for his important piano audition. Eli's ability to speak Spanish, motivates drug dealers to kidnap him to negotiate with their source resulting in several hilarious scenes. Actor Jesse Eisenberg and Melissa Leo, as his troubled but big hearted mom turn in wonderful performances. Tracy Morgan is hilarious as the drug dealer. The cast of characters show multi layers to their personalities, and the audience is taken on a wild but satisfying ride.

"Why Stop Now" asks the question how far would you go to get into rehab? Eli (Jesse Eisenberg) is a smart kid, a piano prodigy, and is desperate to get his mother into rehab. His mother (Melissa Leo) is an annoying, high-strung coke-addict who has to go to rehab now or else Eli will never get to live his own life. The various plot descriptions available all get the rehab misunderstanding wrong, but it doesn't matter, it's ridiculous either way.

Presumably a comedy, the movie goes to great lengths to create a story full of comedic mishaps. Most of them, especially the rehab misunderstanding, aren't funny enough and belong in a worse movie. Because the thing is this movie could be more aptly described as a bittersweet drama-comedy and the travails that Eli has to go through are actually pretty touching.

Jesse Eisenberg is a really good actor. Prior to "The Social Network" (2010), I didn't really believe he was good (probably because of unfair superficial assumptions placed on him), but he may very well have mastered the drama-comedy balance. The script goes to extremes in manufacturing obstacles and misplaced hilarity. Melissa Leo takes on those extremes with her high-pitched self-righteous prattle and we wish she was locked in rehab at the very beginning. Tracy Morgan, surprisingly, plays his role more subdued than he has probably ever been before and the result is a drug dealer that doesn't produce any laughs.

Eisenberg is able to make a couple of scenes very funny. In one, he acts as a Spanish translator for one drug dealer to another and finds an amusing balance between his book smarts and street smarts. In a later scene, he explains the difference between a pain in the ass and a pretentious pain in the ass to two high-strung screaming sisters. I'm thankful when he raises his voice to get them to shut-up.

The mostly classical music score provides an interesting juxtaposition to the drug-fuelled comedy, but I'm not sure who "Why Stop Now" is supposed to appeal to. It doesn't have the same energy and comedy that popular releases "Horrible Bosses" and "21 Jump Street" have. But the bittersweet journey and the accomplishments by one actor in particular makes this a somewhat enjoyable and, thankfully, short ride.