Perhaps it's the double-edged sword of using religious concepts as the backbone of your story. When pushing hard for morality, it can be easy for it to overshadow other concerns.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 7, 2024

We have seen this all before; from Jesse Eisenberg's trademark jitters and speedy speech to the inevitable tragic story arc and the morphing of smalltime dabbler to swaggering kingpin, undone by over-confidence. Oy vey.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 23, 2018

An arrhythmic but very interesting film... [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 20, 2018

Holy Rollers' innocence-lost, you-can't-go-home-again arc is something of a clich, but the film remains refreshingly nonjudgmental about its hero's burgeoning criminal career.

| Jan 12, 2018

The one and only problem I had with HOLY ROLLERS was the pacing. I found myself getting slightly bored and at times, looking at my watch. I'm sure it's not easy to mesh Orthodox Judaism and Ecstasy, but Asch did a pretty good job.

| Aug 28, 2013

Offering the viewer hardly any reason to feel this story is credible.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 8, 2013

Despite a suitably nervy turn from Eisenberg, there's no energy to the film-making or much insight into the story.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 10, 2011

It's a surprisingly cool little film, not funny at all but rather seriously torn between the secular and the sacred, a conflict Eisenberg expresses with a neurotic intensity.

| Jul 10, 2011

It's a familiar premise and Holy Rollers sprinkles precisely nothing new into the roll-up.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 8, 2011

We expect more than we eventually get, even if what we get is watchable throughout.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 8, 2011

Dramatically uneven though well-performed and competently directed, Holy Rollers features an intriguing premise yet treads thin ice when battling an inconsistent script.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 8, 2011

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 8, 2011

Holy Rollers is based on true events but it lacks any spark of originality.

| Jul 8, 2011

[A] breathless, enjoyable comedy-thriller based on the true story of how Hassidic Jews were recruited as mules in the late 1990s to smuggle ecstasy pills from Amsterdam into New York.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 7, 2011

It just feels content to glide along ... and if it wasn't for Eisenberg being his usual quirky and mildly entertaining self, would feel uneven ... and rather erratic.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 7, 2011

Jesse Eisenberg, in the main role, enhances the film again and again with his comic timing and ability to nail the part of a sheltered ingnu with an incipient rebel streak. It might be dodgy merchandise, but he sells it all the same.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 7, 2011

This is more accurately a film about a revolution against innocence and the vacuum it leaves behind.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 7, 2011

Who wouldn't be intrigued by a documentary about blackjack gamblers trying to beat the casinos at their own game?

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 7, 2011

The film is slow, sometimes confusing and not very involving.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 7, 2011

The problem is that it's not terribly dramatic, despite good central performances from Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 7, 2011