Review of Holy Rollers (2010) by Tim M — 12 Oct 2010

Holy Rollers had a decent enough plot to make it an above average drug movie, but it doesn't hone in on any one direction that it's trying to go to, and instead of going somewhere, it just goes. It does feature some superb acting, mainly from Jesse Eisenberg, but it still can't grab my attention, and for a film about drugs, attention should be a given.

In Holy Rollers, Sam Gold (Jesse Eisenberg) is a Hasidic Jew living in New York. When he isn't satisfied with his job working for his father, and might not be able to support his possible wife to be, he is given an offer from neighbor Yosef (Justin Bartha) to travel with him and Yosef's brother Leon (Jason Fuchs) to Amsterdam. However, what Sam and Leon think they are smuggling from Amsterdam back to New York is medicine, is actually drugs. After discovering this, Leon decides not to continue with the smuggling, while Sam continues to work with Yosef for drug lord Jackie (Danny Abeckaser). Each time Sam participates in the smuggling, he becomes more and more involved with the drug industry and the people in it.

This is based off the real true story, and it's a pretty good find for a true story movie. It has an interesting plot, and should have been great. However, the directing wasn't well executed, and the plot just seemed to drag on without any explanation. Too often I found myself not knowing what was happening, and too often I found myself not caring either. That was the most disappointing part. I really was pulling for this movie, but it wouldn't be the first time I've been let down.

Before seeing this, I could say that I had never seen Jesse Eisenberg in a role that I didn't like him in. After seeing this, I am proud to say that I can say the same thing. Even though he is constantly playing these awkward characters, he still somehow brings the films to life. I don't know how he does it. He's always so natural with his acting. The only thing was that the plot wasn't very helpful and the script wasn't clear so I got lost in some of his acting and character development, but otherwise fantastic job.

Justin Bartha is the kind of actor that I always like when watching his stuff, but have yet to see take big steps and prove to me that he's a legit actor. He provides the comic relief to this movie, as he does in many of his movies, and it's more of the same. Which is fine. I'm satisfied. He's entertaining, and that's all I really needed in this film. I think he could have cranked up his energy a bit, but I didn't complain.

If I had to give this film one defining flaw, it would be the directing. It didn't seem to make any sense what the film was getting at, and a shaky camera doesn't help. So, all in all, this movie got robbed of a fresh review by the director.