Why Stop Now (FILM REVIEW)
Why Stop Now
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Piano Prodigy Frustrated by Drug-Addicted Mom’s Dealer in Irreverent Abduction Dramedy
Eli Bloom (Jesse Eisenberg) is a classical
music prodigy who dreams of attending a prestigious conservatory in Boston. The only thing
standing in the way of his promising future is the constant distraction of having
to care for his 9 year-old sister, Nicole (Emma Rayne Lyle), and his mother
(Melissa Leo), a 45 year-old cocaine addict who just can’t seem to get her act
together.
She finally agrees to enter rehab on
the very same day of his big audition. And a complication arises when she’s
rejected by the clinic for passing the drug test they administer.
Since this program only admits
people who flunk, Penny pressures her son to purchase $50 worth of blow from
her dealer (Tracy Morgan) so she can get good and high to satisfy the center’s by-the-book
bureaucrats. Although Eli’d prefer to be practicing piano, he grudgingly agrees
to approach the pusher, unaware that his mom happens to be deeply indebted to
him.
Then, once Sprinkles learns that Eli
is Penny’s son, he and his henchman, Black (Isiah
Whitlock, Jr.), proceed
to carjack the whole blooming Bloom family in order to recoup their losses come
Hell or high water. Meanwhile, time’s a wasting and the odds that Eli will even
be able to attend his audition worsen by the minute.
So unfolds Why Stop Now, a raucous
road dramedy featuring the unlikely casting of Oscar-winner Melissa Leo (for
The Fighter) and Oscar-nominee Jesse Eisenberg (for The Social Network)
opposite SNL alumnus Tracy Morgan. The oil-and-water is a classic case study of squandered talent, with the serious
thespians looking lost when asked to react to the motor-mouthed comic’s
ostensibly improvised jokes like “somebody needs tough-actin’ Tinactin” about
smelly feet.
Whitlock
isn’t any funnier as Morgan’s partner-in-crime, coming off as mean-spirited
when he tosses Nicole’s beloved puppet out the window of the moving auto. Nonetheless,
the movie delivers just enough laughs to remain recommended, despite the fact
that this hard to pigeonhole head-scratcher would have benefitted from making a
total commitment to either comedy or a drama.
Good (2 stars)
Unrated
In English and
Spanish with subtitles.
Running time: 88 minutes
Distributor: IFC
Films
To see a trailer for Why Stop Now, visit:
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