This somewhat annoying drama of a drug addict mother
who has been refused rehab that her precocious college student son has badgered
her into because she passes drug free urine and so is advised to go by the Nurse
to go out and get high just to qualify is such a ludicrous tale, it had to be a
true story. Of sorts.
Having no health insurance and not much choice Penny
persuades son Eli (who has his own substance-abuse problems) to help seek out
her Dealer to get a quick fix. The trouble
is that she already owes Sprinkles the Dealer too much money to get another
hit, and if that is not bad enough Eli, a piano prodigy is due that afternoon to
take a crucial audition for a elite Music Academy that could change his life
around.
For some inexplicable reason that just added to the
confusion/mess, Eli breaks off his drug-hunting day to declare his love to a high school
sweetheart who is in the middle of a Revolutionary War Enactment, which through
the whole plot even more off-kilter.
The one redeeming factor in this oddball of a movie is that the multi-talented
Melissa Leo plays Penny and even when she over-acts (as she did too often) she
is still a joy to watch. On the other hand, Jesse Eisenberg as Eli whose continued type-casting in his one-act turn as an irritating nerd really begins
to grate on one’s nerves here. Enough is
enough Jesse. Please move on.
Even
the feel-good ending that is abruptly attached to the finish couldn’t make me
change my mind and start to like this one. I felt
as uncomfortable as poor Tracy Morgan looked playing a stereotypical Drug Dealer. It's a long way from '30 Rock' eh Tracy?
★★★★
★★★★
