Holy Rollers
2010 Directed by Kevin Asch
Synopsis
In 1998, 1 million ecstasy pills were smuggled into the USA by a group of Hasidic Jews.
Inspired by actual events in the late nineties when Hasidic Jews were recruited as mules to smuggle ecstasy from Europe into the United States.
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For a while I pretty much thought Jessie Eisenberg was who they get when Michael Serra isn't available. Zombieland pretty much set me straight on that and following it with The Social Network clarified everything. Now I'm enough of a fan to want to get around to all of his movies. So I picked up Holy Rollers.
But the extent to which this movie is true (there were some hasidic mules) is outpaced only by the extent to which the changed story is totally uninteresting.
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Really make your mind up with what sort of film you want to be, are you a drama? Are you a crime film? Are you just mediocre?
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Pretty mediocre despite a promising performance from Jessie Eisenberg.
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This film really just muddles around and has no sense of being or what it actually is. It has no idea if it wants to focus more on family, crime drama, religious culture and so it just merges these all together and hope it turns out okay. And it really doesn't succeed. It has decent moments but ultimately it's just "there". I went into this wanting to see a couple of favorite actors of mine, Eisenberg and Bartha. And while they each do suitable jobs, there's nothing noteworthy about their performances or their roles. I think there might be a small audience that would be very interested in this, but it's really something that should be passed on.
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Oy!
HOLY ROLLERS sounded like a cool story. The Hasidic culture is very interesting to me and it’s one that doesn’t get a lot of exposure in film, or really any media.
Jesse Eisenberg was almost too obvious a choice to play the lead role of Sam. But of course, he delivers. His is a really well-performed arc from start to finish. Justin Bartha’s turn as the friend that gets Sam involved with the E cartel is much more straightforward. He doesn’t really change much, if any, but he’s good all the same. It was a different side of him than I’d seen before, so at least we know he’s not totally one-note.
And hey lookitthat! The little Pepsi girl…
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A pretty poor documentary that doesn't even understand what's interesting about its own content — a group of card counting, blackjack playing Christians. A better exploration of either one aspect or the other would have been superior, but instead it went for middle of the road hodge-podge.
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Based on the true story of some young Hasidic Jews turned drug couriers in late 90s NYC, HOLY ROLLERS is an oddity. A moderately successful film it holds extra novelty interest for me due to my utter lack of familiarity with Jewish culture. Worth a watch if not unmissable.
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Worth a watch, but nothing too exciting.
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For a while I pretty much thought Jessie Eisenberg was who they get when Michael Serra isn't available. Zombieland pretty much set me straight on that and following it with The Social Network clarified everything. Now I'm enough of a fan to want to get around to all of his movies. So I picked up Holy Rollers.
But the extent to which this movie is true (there were some hasidic mules) is outpaced only by the extent to which the changed story is totally uninteresting.
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Jesse Eisenberg playing a drug smuggling Hasidic Jew.
Whats not to like?
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One of the dullest films I can remember seeing.