Edward Morra is a struggling writer in New York. His life is in as much of a mess as his apartment is, and his girl-friend is no longer willing to put up with it and has left him. But then he runs into the one figure, that for sheer tenousness, absurdity even, stands towering above all other of the potential relatives that can be foisted upon you, alone and multi-hyphenated, his ex-brother-in-law Vernon. Vernon used to be a drug dealer, but now he claims to be doing consulting work for a pharmaceutical company, and that the insanely expensive pill he presents to Edward with the promise to remove his writers' block has been through clinical trials and is FDA-approved. Edward takes the pill and it immediately and drastically increases his intellectual capabilities, allowing him to finish his book and turn his life around. But of course, there are side effects, addictive properties, withdrawal symptoms, supply issues, and violent criminal elements that soon come into play.

The movie is based on the 2001 novel The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn (which has now been renamed Limitless to match the movie, but its protagonist did not get the same treatment and is still called Edward Spinola). I was delighted to see it in the Kindle store on sale for just 1.49 Euro instead of the list price of 8.38. Too cheap to not get it.

7 points