Movie Summary of Holy Rollers by Michael The Moviegoer.
HOLY ROLLERS = **
“High Holy Days”
It should be easy to make an exciting thriller about Brooklyn orthodox Jews secretly working as international drug smugglers. Unfortunately, “Holy Rollers” is not that movie.
Instead, it’s a version of that movie shot in a dark, grainy, choppy hand-held style with the feel of being edited in a blender. Scenes hop back and forth between Brooklyn and Amsterdam with no flow at all. At times I wasn’t sure what city a scene was supposed to be set in.
Jesse Eisenberg tries his best to save this mess, and he does a great job in the lead role of Sam, the hasidic jew who becomes a drug mule. In the hands of a more capable director, this might have been a great film. But as it is here, it’s more of a tease. It has moments, but always feels like it wants to be more than the sum of its parts, yet has no idea how to achieve that.
DVD Double Feature: 2004’s Spanish-language, Oscar-nominated drug smuggling drama “Maria Full Of Grace” contains all of what “Holy Rollers” lacks. Cinematic value, strong characters and writing, and an Oscar-nominated performance by Catalina Sandino Moreno as a 17-year old girl who smuggles packets of heroin into the U.S. by swallowing them. A haunting movie you won’t soon forget.
Michael The Moviegoer
