Jennifer Lawrence is the explicit winner choice for the best performance, while Cooper is described as the film’s soul and its biggest long-term career beneficiary.
The couple’s future is doubted because of volatility, unemployment and later Eagles disappointments; the diner account of Tiffany losing her job is recalled as a great Cooper scene.
Russell receives Apex Mountain support: this uniquely personal mix of local detail, wild energy and romantic resolution reached an audience in a way his later work did not. — Zach Baron
Lawrence receives clear Apex Mountain support for the Oscar win and The Hunger Games in the same year; House at the End of the Street is a minor blemish. — Chris Ryan
Cooper receives an affirmative Apex Mountain choice as his vulnerable acting breakthrough, while American Sniper, A Star Is Born and his later directing ambitions complicate the comparison.
Sports fandom in movies receives Apex Mountain support, with Fever Pitch as comparison; Upper Darby on film is also proposed. — Chris Ryan
iPods receive an early Apex Mountain proposal, immediately deferred. — Chris Ryan
Cooper’s reaction to Tiffany’s account of losing her job is later jokingly called his Apex Mountain. — Andy Greenwald
The sports-season structure ages well, especially the chaotic 2008 Eagles season, playoff contingencies and DeSean Jackson’s premature celebration as a metaphor for self-sabotage.
The Sweet Forever is another example of using a sports season as narrative backdrop, with its crime story following Len Bias’s final Maryland season. — Chris Ryan
Philadelphia sports anguish remains current, and the film’s blind optimism is jokingly compared with the Eagles’ current coaching mindset. — Andy Greenwald
Lawrence and Cooper’s raw performances before their stardom solidified age especially well; Lawrence’s later choices are contrasted with this breakout energy.
The Halloween-to-Christmas setting makes this an unexpectedly strong holiday movie, with seasonal weather and decorations contributing. — Chris Ryan
Standalone iPods and casually exploring a friend’s music collection feel appealingly quaint.
The strong 2012 film year is raised, including Flight, Argo, The Master, Django and Lincoln.
Reading and talking about the Eagles as father-son connection ages well; the panel recalls sports-page etiquette and receiving box scores in summer-camp mail.
The question of what the family watches leads to joking memories of arguments over newspaper film reviews.
Shea Whigham’s brother Jake ages well: his tearful attempt to connect through insensitive comparisons and loyalty at the game; tax or real-estate law is conjectured from his advice to his father. — Chris Ryan
The neighbor filming Pat’s breakdown anticipates everyday recording of disturbances, though the subplot lacks closure; the crowded neighborhood’s instant awareness feels lived-in.
The dinner introducing Ronnie, Veronica and Tiffany is a scene candidate: commercial-property anxiety, Metallica for the baby, mortuary humor and painfully candid flirting establish its tone. — Chris Ryan
Pat throwing A Farewell to Arms out the window is another scene candidate, with his relationship to literature singled out. — Chris Ryan
The wedding-video search and fight with Pat’s father is proposed but another participant does not find it rewatchable; the first diner date ranks highly. — Chris Ryan
Tiffany repeatedly appearing on Pat’s running route provides physical screwball comedy; his frightening proximity to a former colleague shows the darker side of the same staging.
The dance-studio encounter, explanation of Tommy’s death and training montage with Dylan and Cash’s Girl from the North Country are scene candidates.
The Giants tailgate with Dr. Patel and Jake is loved despite its dark turn; Cooper’s bird gesture is a highlight.
John Ortiz’s convincing Eagles fandom as Ronnie is praised despite being a New Yorker; Pat’s attempt to avoid fighting leads into his father’s meltdown.
Tiffany rebutting Pat Senior’s superstition with winning Eagles and Phillies scores is a beloved scene, even if its appeal to Philadelphia fans could count as pandering.
The superstition speech is an explicit scene preference: Lawrence takes control of a noisy ensemble scene, capped by opening a beer. — Andy Greenwald
The dance contest and final romantic letter are other scene candidates; their modest required score and disastrous finishing lift add comedy, while Tiffany’s knowledge of the competition is debated.
Tiffany explaining superstition is the final most-rewatchable-scene choice. — Zach Baron
For Vaughn’s role at the time, Owen Wilson and 2005 Bradley Cooper are considered, with Cooper bringing an angrier edge; Byron Mayo is jokingly floated.
Ghosted’s Chris Evans and Ana de Armas are offered as a modern comparison but dismissed as lacking chemistry; Anyone but You inspires more anticipation. Tom Holland and Zendaya are floated as the biggest current couple, followed by a joking on-set breakup scenario. — Amanda Dobbins
Untouchable is one preference; another favors a six-hour series in 1980 or the present to explore psychological transformation more deeply. — Chris Ryan
Remaking is resisted because the unresolved meanings and period context give the film lasting force, and using an openly gay cop could remove the original ambiguity. — Wesley Morris
Another vote goes to Cruise, who would have learned skills like flying a helicopter or winning at race-car driving; no one loses.
An amendment requires putting Cooper into the swapped star's movie: take 2004 Will Smith after Bad Boys 2 and swap out I, Robot for Cooper.
Cooper as Mike Lowrey in Bad Boys with Martin Lawrence is offered as the obvious swap; Cooper in The Firm is another, and Cruise didn't make enough Limitless-type movies, unlike Keanu.
With cops coming, the oven is questioned as the best hiding place and called underrated for money, drugs or guns.
A childhood memory recalls an aunt who hid drugs in the microwave; anything oven-related is endorsed.
An old-fashioned air-conditioner vent, as in No Country, is always great. — Chris Ryan
The alternative is to take all the NZT and make yourself police commissioner.
After the failed CBS show, the options are a Limitless 2 sequel with Cooper 11 or 12 years later, or a prestige Netflix series that could pay him; Cooper has to be in it either way.
Cooper could become the Carl Van Loon figure facing a new guy on a new drug, or face Jesse Eisenberg, who would get even smarter on NZT. — Chris Ryan
Unlike unwanted sequels, this world merits a return: post-presidency life, early Bitcoin, taking on Haralabob, drafting Luca, or buying an NBA team that goes 75-7.
Cooper is busy directing and starring in a Leonard Bernstein film; Limitless 2 should come after that.
Cooper's Apex is American Sniper, which he funded and which is his action Apex; it is not this movie.
Relativity Media is raised: they gamed the system, turning a $40 million movie into $170 million and proving their formula. — Chris Ryan
Abbie Cornish gets a yes; she seemed to be having a moment, also with Ryan Philippe, before Brie Larson, in a garbled line, corrected her out of it.
Little-kid ice-skate attacks are definitely a peak: choosing the eight-year-old's skate over gardening shears or a baseball bat is crazy.
For skating-rink attempted murders The Good Son is chosen over this; a riff imagines the dad explaining the afternoon to his wife.
Fake Russian accents are up there but not the top; Malcovich (as transcribed) in Rounders is in the conversation, preferred over Connery's 'one ping only' for quotable lines. — Chris Ryan
Subway fights get a no: not even a podium finisher behind The Warriors, Fast and Furious 6 and Neo versus Agent Smith in The Matrix.
Drugs that give all-being powers are floated as an Apex candidate without a stated answer. — Chris Ryan
The guy version of the Pretty Woman glow-up montage, from extra-looking to perfectly fitted suit with sit-ups and great skin, is raised as a candidate without a stated answer. — Chris Ryan
Composer Paul Leonard Morgan's score is called his Apex: it sounds like what becoming smart would sound like inside your head.
De Niro is the pick: after Jackie Brown and Meet the Parents he made paycheck movies, doesn't seem fully into this one and scales it back like Gene Hackman's autopilot in The Replacements, though it works.
A disagreement: not a top-20 De Niro performance, but he brings gravity to Carl Van Loon, is better than Paul Giamatti would be, and has an affinity with Cooper while letting him chew the scenery. — Chris Ryan
De Niro could have met Cooper's final threat with a stare and a Heat-style reply; De Niro scales back on autopilot while Pacino gets big.
The biggest aged-worst item is the rating: this should have been rated R, with more violence and sex.
PG-13 is liked as is, because kids walking through the room are no problem and adults still get the drug and sex material. — Shea Serrano
PG-13 suits the TNT, USA and Paramount cable universe with few edits; the TV series was canceled after one season.
Eddie's smart-sounding speeches are rough on inspection: the Portugal salt-cod and Brits lines captivate an audience of nine people, and he sounds like he could have run Germany better than Hitler.
The basketball version of Eddie sounding smart would be saying threes are worth more than twos, or the Process's bottom-out logic.
Abbie Cornish runs pumping her fists; a track coach should have been hired for that scene.
There is not much aged-worst; the disappointing TV show is the one item, despite excitement that Cooper pops up in it. — Shea Serrano
An R version is wanted to see Cooper break an arm; older movies like Jaws are cited as more leniently rated, countered that a shark is a naturally occurring phenomenon, unlike Total Recall's violence.
CBS should have made the show with an older lead, a 62-year-old CEO taking the drug.
