Why Stop Now?

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

The three lead actors all play to their strengths: Jesse Eisenberg as the gifted prodigy who must overcome his weaknesses, Tracy Morgan as the off-kilter small town drug dealer who succumbed to his, and best, Melissa Leo as a druggie mom trying (and not trying) to keep her self and her family together. The movie kind of has a Weeds meets the Station Agent vibe to it as disparate characters are thrown together and learn to get along. The weakness might be in the writing. Some scenes feel contrived as if to move along the plot, while others are great set pieces. There is a Revolutionary War re-enactors subplot that seems thrown in to give the movie some additional quirkiness (Mr. Black's Miss Muppet line is funny). Tracy Morgan throws in some good ad-libs (when he bumps up against Leo's mom is when the movie starts to hit the mark). Eisenberg can get annoying (or maybe it's just the characters he plays). All in all a good if not great little indie movie.

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.

"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.

i kept overlooking this movie because one of it's stars is tracy morgan. never thought he was funny, never! and as this film is marketed as a 'comedy' surely the morgan character would not be funny to me. turns out not to be the case. he doesn't play a funny role!

first, this story is not a comedy!!! second, it's a drama with moments of levity. third, why it is listed as comedy is a mystery to me.

the struggle of the main character 'eli' to follow his piano playing dream, control his out of control mother, and trying to bring some level of normal life to his sister is the theme of this movie. eli has his own problems, but between his domestic obligations and his academic quest he has little time to address them.

what we get is a mere look at what he must do in 24 hours if he is to remain sane and true to himself and take advantage of a great opportunity to start a career as am accomplished piano player.

this movie may have it's weak moments but i doubt anyone can clearly point them out. i became very wrapped up in the eli character and his suffering with his mother and her 'supplier' friends, dealing with 'family', and becoming attached to a girl who obviously cares for him.

this movie is well worth watching! but please do not expect a barrel of comic laughs. if you approach it expecting that you will be disappointed and end up missing a very well performed story.