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.

I found this storyline of this film to be totally predictable. Its the same old story of the rise and fall of drug dealers/smugglers. The use of Hasidic Jews as drug mules is the twist.We see the protagonist (Sam, played by Jesse Eisenberg) as a devout, highly spiritual, young Hasidic Jew lured by the promise of quick cash into becoming a drug mule. Initially, he is told he is smuggling medicine from Amsterdam into the US. The typical progression of the temptation of easy money and the lifestyle leads him and his wreck less Hasidic buddy to become deeply involved in the drug smuggling operation. Somewhere along the way, I'm not sure exactly where, Sam losses his spirituality, and is disowned by his devoutly Hasidic family. They become increasingly wreck less, and predictably get caught. Its a very familiar film plot.The acting and casting are decent, but not particularly compelling. Ari Graynor, the girlfriend of the smuggling ring kingpin, is really the only interesting character in the film. The issue of Sam's loss of spirituality is glossed over, when it should have been a key part of the story. How does a devout, strictly religious young man studying to be a Rabbi become an international drug smuggler seemingly overnight? We don't really get much of an answer. We do get some hints at things that reinforce the worst stereotypes about Jewish people, such as "Jews have always been smugglers" and we are left to wonder if the film makers are hinting that Jews will do anything to make a fast buck.So, in the end, its the same old "rise and fall" of the drug smuggler thing, we've seen in films from "Scarface" to "Blow". The reason, we are supposed to be interested is that it involves Hasidic Jews and stars Jesse Eisenberg. WoW!, I'm less than overwhelmed.I found this film to be stale and somewhat trite. Based on a true story, at the end of the film, it is stated that the Hasidic ecstasy smuggling ring brought 1 million pills into the US in the late 1990's. In the scheme of world of drug smuggling, that's actually a fairly small time operation.

I never heard of this movie and recorded it only because it stars Jesse Eisenberg, an interesting actor. It turned out to be a solid drama, very engaging, about a young man torn between two drastically different worlds, the Brooklyn Hasidic world in which he was raised and the criminal world of drug smuggling and easy money. The ending demonstrates the power of family and community as the young man, Sam, played by Eisenberg, desperately returns home.The movie portrays the Hasidic community from the inside, with no overt attempt to explain its ways and customs to outsiders. While a passing familiarity with Jewish traditions might be useful to viewers, any reasonably intelligent person should have no problem figuring out why people say and do the things they do in this film. My guess is that someone from a very different way of life, such as an evangelical Christian, might find it easy to empathize with the characters. On the other hand, I personally am resolutely non-religious yet found the movie compelling.Hard to explain why Jesse Eisenberg is so interesting to watch. His facial expression is really quite limited. Most of the time he wears a frown of intense concentration--the same look that characterized him through much of The Social Network. On the rare occasion when he smiles or (at the end of the movie) cries, it is a memorable moment.Thanks to the note on the Holy Rollers IMDb start page, I see that there was a subtext or rationale for the title of this movie, but I still think it is an inappropriately snarky title for the serious drama that this turns out to be.Holy Rollers is well worth seeing.

I really enjoyed Holy Rollers. I want to see it again. They did a good job portraying Sammy's frustration with the uptight moral values of his family and church. Just watching that first half with all the churchgoing and family rituals and not at all any fun-having, I was like yes, drugs, sex, bring it on, this is ridiculous. It was all so dry and boring it was no wonder. The scene where Jackie's girlfriend talks to Sammy while on ex is phenomenal. Just dead on. I have never seen any movie previously do such a realistic portrayal. Go see the movie just for that scene it is entirely worth it.There were not a whole lot of moments in the film that just rang completely false, I mean it was pretty honest. It was a pretty respectful movie and I appreciated that.When Josef calls out to his little brother from the car, all coked up, taking off his watch and yelling that he's gotten him a present. Priceless.I didn't get it though how Sammy's father just completely abandons all hope in his son. I mean being such a religious man and all, he didn't really offer any forgiveness or understanding. Being all "Why?, Why?" I mean he had to understand why at least to some extent.I also did not get this one scene where Josef gets into a fight with these two guys, Sammy starts to drive away, calling out to Josef, and then it cuts to some buses or something. That was confusing.I was going to explain what I liked about the ending but I don't want to spoil it :)Go see it