Title: Why Stop Now
Director: Phil Dorling & Ron Nyswaner
More like, why even begin?
The only thing one will take away from this 85 minute scamper is that Jesse Eisenberg and Melissa Leo know how to act. Well that, and Tracy Morgan solidifies that he is hit-or-miss in onscreen comedies.
Eisenberg plays a quirky piano savant who has a major tryout in just a few hours. His substance-abusing mother (Leo) has finally agreed to enter a rehab facility but there’s just one snag: She has clean urine and no health insurance. So unless she litters her insides, the rehab center legally cannot let her in due to the lack of medical coverage. Already a nervous wreck over his more-or-less recital, his mother instructs him to visit her suburban dealer by the name of Sprinkles (Tracy Morgan) and score some blow so she can dirty her pee and get admitted. Upon arriving at Sprinkles’ joint, the normal looking drug kingpin is fresh out of everything and needs to see his Spanish speaking supplier. Therefore, everyone hops in the SUV and tries to accomplish all the errands prior to Eisenberg having to perform at the biggest audition of his life.
It reads, much like the IMDb.com synopsis, way funnier than it is folks. While Eisenberg is enacting character traits he’s done many times before, his talent is always worth watching. Then there’s Melissa Leo, who’s just winging it (my assumption), and that is really the only charisma and/or engaging element in this labeled comedy. And speaking of comedy, or at least where one may think they could find some, Tracy Morgan is neutered by a cardboard script. It’s fine to do something different, but there needs to be something that enhances the other aspects of the film and/or picks up the slack. Unfortunately, there is zilch here; to the point that this review has to end now, for there truly is nothing else to write about without insanely reaching/stretching by yours truly…
Not joking. And neither is Why Stop Now.
Technical: C
Story: F
Acting: C+
Overall: D (for dud)
