Jesse Eisenberg Needs Drugs – WHY STOP NOW Trailer

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Academy Award nominee and Michael Cera’s stunt-double, Jesse Eisenberg, will be starring in the new indie comedy Why Stop Now, which looks a lot like Little Miss Sunshine, except with even more drugs.  Melissa Leo plays Eisenberg’s drug-addict mother, but they won’t let her into rehab because she’s not high enough (which sounds goofy at first blush, but makes a lot of sense, when you think about it).  Eisenberg’s gotta get her to hit bottom, so they visit her dealer, as played by Tracy Morgan, and hilarity ensues.  Dig:

Okay, for openers, I officially announce that the Cera/Eisenberg crack I made above will be the last time I compare the two.  For one thing, it’s getting a bit hacky making those jokes.  And for another, however similar they may be, I respect both the guys as actors, despite the fact that they’ve not exactly branched out from the nebbishy, cutesy, indie-rock boy schtick.  And while Eisenberg, unlike Cera, hasn’t done anything I love, that’s only so far.

Buzz is already coming up around Tracy Morgan’s performance in this film, and I’m not sure how to feel about that.  It is very nice to see him branching out and playing something a little bit dramatic.  At the same time, his dramatic bits in this trailer feel kinda hokey in that indie-comedy way, kind of eye-roll inducing.  Also, I bristle at the notion that is still prevalent that a comedian or comedic actor can’t be taken seriously until he or she does some sorta dramatic role.  Not to say that Tracy Morgan shouldn’t take a role like this if he feels like it, if he likes the script and maybe wants to be challenged a bit.  But it always kinda bugs me when the media and then possibly the most-holy Academy deigns to take notice of someone like Steve Martin or Bill Murray because all of the sudden they’re delivering a dramatic speech to the main character.

Why Stop Now will be available On Demand starting this Friday and in theaters this August.  I think it looks worth a watch, even if just for the small part character actor Paul Calderon has.