Holy Rollers

It's 1998 Brooklyn. Sam Gold (Jesse Eisenberg) is an Orthodox Jew. He works in his father's fabric store. He wants to marry Zeldy Lazar but he doesn't have the money. His friend Leon's brother Yosef (Justin Bartha) offers him a job. He asks Leon to join him. They get tricked into smuggling ecstasy from Amsterdam to New York for Israeli Jackie. Sam rises in the organization recruiting other Orthodox Jews. Rachel (Ari Graynor) is Jackie's brassy girlfriend.

I would have liked Sam to be a good guy corrupted into this world. The problem is that he's a money-grubbing selfish kid to begin with. They're also a bit too stupid at the start. As for a crime drama, there is limited drama. It's not that exciting. The premise offers some potential but it's not that compelling.

It was ok based on ture events , however I did start losing interest about half way through.

Kevin Asch's "Holy Rollers" tells the story of a group of Hasidic Jews recruited as mules to smuggle ecstasy from the Netherlands to the United States. In addition to the main story, there's also a look into the Hasidic world. The main character Sam Gold (Jesse Eisenberg) is expected to marry a woman chosen for him, and he is shown to be afraid to touch a woman not chosen for him. The movie shows the Hasidim having a lifestyle very similar to the evangelical Christians. The look at Sam's life keeps the audience interested in him, but most of the characters aren't really developed enough. Even so, the movie mostly held my attention, both as a look at the drug smuggling story, and a look at the Hasidic culture. Worth seeing.

This relatively short (1h 25min) movie is inspired by actual events in the 1990ies when Hasidic Jews were recruited as "mules" to smuggle ecstasy from Europe (mostly from The Netherlands) into the United States. The introductory part of the screenplay, however, is too long - I mean the events prior to smuggling process. On the other hand, the movie gives a good overview of customs and habits of Orthodox Jews - definitely interesting for non-Jews - and manners of recruiting people for illegal trafficking. The club scenes seem a bit lengthy though... Well done anyway, and the director Kevin Asch won the Breakthrough Director Award at the 2010 Gotham Awards.

Jesse Eisenberg gives his best performance so far - and so different from the one in Social Network, for which he has been praised higher. His interpretation of Sam/Schmuel Gold, a mild-manner 20-year old youngster gradually becoming a smuggling activist, is so convincing and at times funny - although there is always tough and troubled background visible. Justin Bartha, Ari Graynor and Danny Abeckaser are also worth mentioning, going with the atmosphere.

A recommendable movie - and a warning against involvement into illegal trafficking and drug use.

Sam Gold (Jesse Eisenberg) is a young man whose life is run by his Orthodox Hasidic Jewish upbringing. He lives at home, works for his father, and will marry only the woman he is set up with. Everything changes, however, when he accepts a job offer from Yosef (Justin Bartha), his best friend's older brother who serves as the community's black sheep. Presented as a free trip to Amsterdam, Sam quickly discovers that to return home, he will have to carry Ecstasy through customs. While he is clearly shaken by this foray into the world of drug running, he quickly realizes what kind of financial benefit this trade could bring him. He begins training other down-on-their-luck Jews to smuggle drugs and before long, asserts himself as a valuable part of kingpin Jackie Solomon's (Danny A. Abeckaser). But as the deals get bigger, Sam's family life falls apart and he comes closer and closer to the edge as the feds get closer.

"Rollers" gets some good-enough performances from the cast. Eisenberg brings a certain emotional attachment to the project and does an admirable job of making Sam his own man instead of a Mark Zuckerberg as a drug mule. Bartha, usually the comic relief, plays well against-type and embraces the black sheep junkie with flair. Based on real events, the film's setting is interesting but fails to develop as I would have liked. There's a great story to be told within the framework of the "Orthodox Jew struggles with the abandonment of his family and faith in order to make good money" plot line. Unfortunately, director Kevin Asch and screenwriter Antonio Macia neglect this, the most intriguing aspect of the tale. Instead, the focus is placed on a cookie-cutter love triangle that stagnates the flow of the film and brought about boredom on my part. A refocused narrative could have made "Holy Rollers" an engrossing film. Instead, the final product is mediocre at best.

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