A writer, down on his luck, is introduced to a wonder drug that increases his brain power and helps him turn his life around.

Eddie Morra’s life is falling apart – he can’t finish his book and his girlfriend has left him.  A chance encounter with his ex-brother-in-law introduces him to a new drug that will change Eddie’s life.  The pill enhances his brain functioning, allowing Eddie to easily access remote memories, make quick connections between observations, and become generally more cognizant.  He is able to finish his book in mere days before turning his sights on the stock market.  Soon, his quick rise to success and wealth gets the attention of some dangerous individuals.  Eddy must deal with the life threatening side effects of the drug while evading those that would steal his secret and see him dead.  

Neuropsychological Review
Neuroenhancement:  Do “Smart Pills” have Limits?
Mary V. Spiers 

 Previously published  in Spiers, M.V. (2011) Neuroenhancement: Do "Smart Pills" Have Limits?”[Review of the Film Limitless, 2011] PsycCRITIQUES, 56(31). Doi:10.1037/a0024650.
Copyright APA.  This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.

What if there was a “smart pill” that could make you excel at everything?  Limitless (2011) examines the power of the mind and how one struggling writer, Eddie Morra, played by Bradley Cooper, deals with his newfound super-mental powers.  The film begins by re-asserting the popular myth that we use only a small portion of our brain’s potential (Beyerstein, 1999) and 
proceeds to show both the upside and downside of neuroenhancement...

 A Hollywood writer with identity loss  (amnesia) assumes a new life while attempting to regain his memories and true identity. 

 Peter Appleton is a writer living in Hollywood during the Red Scare.  Suspected of being involved with the communist party, he is fired from his job. Emotionally distraught, he crashes his car and is knocked unconscious and swept downstream. When he washes up on the shores of a remote California town he has no idea where or who he is.  The owner of the local movie theatre, Harry, mistakes Peter for his long lost son (Lance), and, knowing no better himself, Peter begins a new life as Lance.  Together, Peter and Harry restore the dilapidated theatre to its former glory. Although the town’s people attempt to jog Lance's memory, only a trigger from Peter’s past restores his identity.

A man, in love with a woman with nightly memory loss, attempts to make a strong enough impression to overcome her disability. 

 Henry meets Lucy during breakfast one morning, and instantly falls in love.  When he sees her the next day, she has no memory of the two of them ever having met.  Henry learns that Lucy loses everything she learns during the day when she falls asleep at night – the apparent result of a car accident years ago.  Lucy, her father, and her brother constantly relive the day before her accident, to avoid the daily pain as she discovers her condition.   Henry won’t give up, and meets Lucy each morning for breakfast in an attempt to make a lasting impression.  


Neuropsychological Review
I don't know who you are, but I dream about you
Tim Daly and Mary Spiers

Lucy’s memory problems began following a car accident, which took place one year before the movie begins.  On the way home from their annual pineapple pick, Lucy and her father veer off the road to avoid a cow and Lucy suffers a head injury [00:22:48].  Lucy’s specific condition is described as Goldfield’s Syndrome, a fictional disorder created for this movie.  

A man with severe anterograde amnesia struggles to separate the facts from lies on his quest to solve the mystery of his wife’s death.


Leonard Shelby is a happy man with a loving wife until a brutal home invasion robs him of his ability to form new memories. Now Leonard must unravel the mystery of his wife’s death using the only clues he has; notes, tattoos, and photographs. Despite living moment to moment, he is driven by revenge to find the man who attacked and raped his wife, while remaining vigilant that his condition leaves him vulnerable to exploitation. Leonard’s journey, and his anterograde amnesia, exposes the subjective nature of truth, memory, and meaning.    


Neuropsychological Review
Life Moment to Moment: Memento as a Case Study in Anterograde Amnesia
Graham Wicas 

Leonard Shelby wakes up in a hotel room. How, why, and when he arrived is a mystery to both Leonard and the viewer... 

 A High School hockey player suffers a traumatic brain injury, and must deal with his injury, as well as the thieves manipulating him to their advantage.    

 Hockey superstar Chris Pratt suffers a traumatic brain injury as a result of a motor vehicle accident.  The damage to his brain leaves Chris with anterograde amnesia and difficulty sequencing simple tasks.  He struggles to maintain his independence from his family, and relies on his roommate Lewis to help him get by.  Chris’s injury and job as the bank’s custodian make him a prime target for conman and thief, Gary Spargo.  Gary gains Chris’s trust and involves him in his plot to rob the bank.  Chris must overcome the deficits imposed on him by his injury to stop the robbery and protect those he loves.


Neuropsychological Review 
Cory Czuczman, Dayna Reber, & Tim Daly    

The Lookout starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a film depicting a young man’s life after suffering a traumatic brain injury. This critique will focus on Joseph Gordon-Levitt's portrayal of a young man living with the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury. The movie takes place... 

The pain of a failing relationship leads two people to erase each other from their memories. 

Joel and Clementine are polar opposites, but seem to be destined to be together.  Almost a year after they first met, their loving relationship has become a series of arguments and constant bickering.  Joel attempts to ameliorate the situation, but comes to find Clementine completely oblivious as to who he is.  He soon finds out that she has had him completely erased from her memory.  The shock and hurt of this leads Joel to do the same.  However, through the process of removing the memories, Joel realizes how valuable their relationship really is.

Neuropsychological Review
The Emotional Core of Memory
Jessica A. Zamzow

Memories can evoke a whole host of feelings including joy, pleasure, fear or grief.  But memories are unstable during recall and can be manipulated, disrupted, or even strengthened in a process... 

 A young Russian princess loses her true identity and gradually regains it as reminders of her past emerge. 


The Russian princess Anastasia, loses her family to the revolution then loses her identity after falling from a train and hitting her head while escaping with her grandmother. 10 years later, she leaves the orphanage to embark on a quest to find her identity and family. Although con men and evil characters try to take advantage of her, tokens, songs and memories from her past gradually emerge to jog her memory and reunite her with her grandmother and reveal her true identity. 

A new bride suffers retrograde amnesia after a traumatic brain injury and loses the memory of ever having met her husband in this romantic drama based on actual events.

Paige suffers a traumatic brain injury in a car accident that results in retrograde amnesia. She awakens in a hospital room having lost several years of her life, and the memory of ever having met Leo and marrying him. Leo attempts to remind Paige of their relationship and reclaim their life prior to the car accident. Although Paige never regains her memory, she discovers facts of her past that lead her back to her life prior to the accident. The movie is based on the actual story of Kim and Krickett Carpenter.

Neuropsychological Review
Ashley McIntyre, Lona Wang, Melanie Musso, & Hela Saidi with Mary Spiers

When considering whether The Vow accurately portrays a case of retrograde amnesia, the answer is both yes and no.  This movie is based on real-life events, (the story of Krickett Carpenter) so the loss of memory for events prior to a brain injury (i.e. retrograde amnesia), even for a long period of time, can happen.  However...