Holy Rollers (2010)

49% of critics liked it
(83 reviews)
34% of users liked it
(2,717 ratings)

"Holy Rollers" is inspired by actual events in the late 1990s when Hasidic Jews were recruited as mules to smuggle ecstasy from Europe into the United States. It is the story of a young Hasid from an Orthodox Brooklyn community whose neighbor propositions him to transport "medicine" for an Israeli… More "Holy Rollers" is inspired by actual events in the late 1990s when Hasidic Jews were recruited as mules to smuggle ecstasy from Europe into the United States. It is the story of a young Hasid from an Orthodox Brooklyn community whose neighbor propositions him to transport "medicine" for an Israeli dealer and his girlfriend. He is exposed to the exciting and gritty worlds of Manhattan and Amsterdam nightlife, and as the business grows, his double life begins to rip his family apart and the community becomes suspicious of his illegal activities. Caught between life as a smuggler and the path back to God, he goes on the run, forced to make a fatal decision that could bring the entire operation crashing down.

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 29 min.
Directed By: Kevin Asch
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: May 21, 2010 Wide
On DVD: Oct 5, 2010
Studio: First Independent Pictures

Critic Reviews

Rafer Guzman, Newsday
It's sadder and scarier than its predecessors, but it also may be the most important chapter in the tale.
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
The scenes of family conflict are sketchily dramatized. We never get to the place where the two parts of Sam's personality meet -- the devoted son and sharp-dealing criminal.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The film is slight, but Eisenberg is a deadpan delight.
Christopher Kelly, Dallas Morning News
The tense dynamic between these two fine actors, not to mention Asch's confident feel for New York City circa the late-1990s, keeps this slightly undercooked but wholly engrossing melodrama on course.
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle
Holy Rollers offers an intriguing portrait of an insular community, but its recounting of the seduction of a bright young man by the surrounding culture is heavy-handed.
Michael Phillips, At the Movies
I think [Eisenberg is] a much more astute and detailed actor then some people give him credit for.
Alistair Harkness, Scotsman
Despite a suitably nervy turn from Eisenberg, there's no energy to the film-making or much insight into the story.
Jason Solomons, Observer [UK]
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.
David Edwards, Daily Mirror [UK]
It's a familiar premise and Holy Rollers sprinkles precisely nothing new into the roll-up.
Derek Malcolm, This is London
We expect more than we eventually get, even if what we get is watchable throughout.
Shaun Munro, What Culture
Dramatically uneven though well-performed and competently directed, Holy Rollers features an intriguing premise yet treads thin ice when battling an inconsistent script.
Caroline Jowett, Daily Express
Holy Rollers is based on true events but it lacks any spark of originality.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
[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.
Lisa Giles-Keddie, Real.com
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.
Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph
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 ingénu with an incipient rebel streak. It might be dodgy merchandise, but he sells it all the same.
Nell Frizzell, Little White Lies
This is more accurately a film about a revolution against innocence and the vacuum it leaves behind.
Roz Laws, Birmingham Post
The film is slow, sometimes confusing and not very involving.
Karen Krizanovich, Radio Times
The problem is that it's not terribly dramatic, despite good central performances from Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha.
Tom Huddleston, Time Out
This is moviemaking on autopilot.
Anton Bitel, Film4
Kevin Asch's morality drama restages the Fall of Man as a modern, real-life crime story. It is understated, but compelling, with yet another standout performance from Jesse Eisenberg.

Read all 22 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Lucas M

Sometimes very cliche, but with a terrific performance by Jesse Eisenberg and a nice screenplay, Holy Rollers is a good film to watch.
Manu G

Weak and pointless film, more actors that could act should really have been here and not let Jesse Eisenberg carry all this movie by himself. The story is good but the way it was portrayed could have been so much better. In Brooklyn, a youth from an Orthodox Jewish community is lured… More
Weak and pointless film, more actors that could act should really have been here and not let Jesse Eisenberg carry all this movie by himself. The story is good but the way it was portrayed could have been so much better. In Brooklyn, a youth from an Orthodox Jewish community is lured into becoming an Ecstasy dealer by his pal who has ties to an Israel drug cartel.
Cynthia S

This film lacked excitement for a crime story, even if a true story. You feel no fear for the people smuggling drugs. Theres no tension, no edge of your seat wondering whats going to happen next. Its a sleepy crime drama. Just about a boy rebelling against his family and his religion.… More
This film lacked excitement for a crime story, even if a true story. You feel no fear for the people smuggling drugs. Theres no tension, no edge of your seat wondering whats going to happen next. Its a sleepy crime drama. Just about a boy rebelling against his family and his religion. The cast is solid with great performances by most.. Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha kept this movie alive for me. Their characters is what kept me watching. Its not great but I still think its worth the watch.
Lewis C

"You are a liar and a criminal. You are not my son." I'm not sure how close Holy Rollers comes to the actual events that it's based on, but it's an interesting flick. It really doesn't do much more than the many movies that chronicle the rise and fall of… More
"You are a liar and a criminal. You are not my son." I'm not sure how close Holy Rollers comes to the actual events that it's based on, but it's an interesting flick. It really doesn't do much more than the many movies that chronicle the rise and fall of a drug dealer that came before, if I'm being honest. You have your innocent young man who's seduced and corrupted by the (seemingly) easy money of drugs (ecstacy, in this instance), that he's introduced to by a shady friend, and most of the consequences play out in exactly the way you would expect them to and have seen before. But the setting among the Hasidic Jew community of New York gives the movie a unique spin that (at least for me) made it something other than the cookie-cutter story it could have been. Jesse Eisenberg was totally believable as the initially pure-hearted main character whose desire to make more money leads him away from his family and the life he values. It was a good role for him, but it didn't really require him to stretch beyond his characters in Adventureland or Zombieland. Which isn't to say that he's not good here, he just gives a very familiar performance. I hear he plays a very different character than his usual in The Social Network, though, so hopefully my fears of him being forever bound by one particular character type are unfounded. Ari Graynor was the reason why I initially wanted to see the movie (big-time fan, the girl great), but I have to admit that her character was pretty one-dimensional and didn't really give her much to work with. The same goes for Justin Bartha's character and most of the others in the movie: they're not really written as whole people. They're given one or two qualities and everything they do stems exactly from their total greed, purity, etc. It would have been nice to see some more "complete" characters, but that's my only real complaint about the film. I liked the documentary-like quality of the camera work; if almost made it seem like I was watching the movie unfold in real-time. And as I said before, the setting and context the story plays out in was Holy Rollers' biggest strength, in my opinion. How much you enjoy it will depend largely on how much interest you still have in these kinds of stories, as it admittedly doesn't rise out the familiar trappings and scenarios of similar movies. I still found it to be pretty entertaining, though.
♥˩ƳИИ &

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha, Q-Tip, Danny A. Abeckaser, Ari Graynor, Jason Fuchs, Bern Cohen, Mark Ivanir, Charlie Hewson, Andrew Levitas Director: Kevin Asch Summary: Inspired by a true story, director Kevin Asch's film tells the story of Sam Gold (Jesse… More
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha, Q-Tip, Danny A. Abeckaser, Ari Graynor, Jason Fuchs, Bern Cohen, Mark Ivanir, Charlie Hewson, Andrew Levitas Director: Kevin Asch Summary: Inspired by a true story, director Kevin Asch's film tells the story of Sam Gold (Jesse Eisenberg), a young Hasidic Jew from Brooklyn who breaks with Orthodox tradition when he becomes an intercontinental Ecstasy smuggler for an Israeli drug cartel. My Thoughts: "First off, the title of this film is amazing considering what this film is about. But this film lacked excitement for it to be a crime story. You feel no fear for the people smuggling drugs. There's no tension, no edge of your seat wondering whats going to happen next. It's a sleepy crime drama. No thriller here as stated in the synopsis. Just about a boy rebelling against his family and his religion. The cast is solid with great performances by most.. Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha kept this movie alive for me. Their character's is what kept me watching. It's not great but I still think it's worth the watch and the rental."
Walter M

In "Holy Rollers," Sam(Jesse Eisenberg) is a 20-year old Hasidic rabbinical student in Brooklyn. He is dissatisfied with the amount of money his father's(Mark Ivanir) store brings in, especially as related to his marriage prospects. So he accepts an offer from his… More
In "Holy Rollers," Sam(Jesse Eisenberg) is a 20-year old Hasidic rabbinical student in Brooklyn. He is dissatisfied with the amount of money his father's(Mark Ivanir) store brings in, especially as related to his marriage prospects. So he accepts an offer from his friend Yosef(Justin Bartha), along with Yosef's brother Leon(Jason Fuchs) to ferry medicine back from Amsterdam. When they find out it is really ecstasy, Leon quits on the spot while Sam continues on, meeting Yosef's boss Jackie(Danny A. Abeckaser). "Holy Rollers" proves without a doubt that just because a true story sounds fascinating does not mean it will play out the same way on the screen, as the movie relies on cliches of both drug and growing up in conservative religions genres while dragging towards the inevitable. That's not to mention the movie looking kind of cheap or Jesse Eisenberg sticking out like a sore thumb with his usual tics in such an emotionally subdued community. I think maybe the filmmakers were trying to make a case for the character's individuality but apparently did not notice that Sam's most memorable trait is his greed. If only the character had more complex motivation, it would have made it easier to care about him.
Sol C

Jesse Eisenberg's performance is a great reason to watch this film. He shines in this film. I thought some of the other actors in the film were miscast. Definitely check out the film for Jesse's performance.
Sam E

Director Kevin Asch failed to evoke any real seriousness or emotion in Holy Rollers. Plus, the movie shifts between Samuel's (Eisenberg) meeting with his potential wife and his first drug exchange so quickly that the viewer may be confused as to what transpired during that short… More
Director Kevin Asch failed to evoke any real seriousness or emotion in Holy Rollers. Plus, the movie shifts between Samuel's (Eisenberg) meeting with his potential wife and his first drug exchange so quickly that the viewer may be confused as to what transpired during that short time period. Yet, Jesse Eisenberg' character is well-portrayed and Justin Bartha plays the Orthodox Jews-gone-bad Yosef perfectly.
Deb S

"The most important thing is this: relax, mind your business, and act Jewish" In the late 1990s, a drug ring recruited Hasidic Jews to smuggle ecstasy into the United States. Jesse Eisenberg plays Sam Gold, the wide eyed innocent 20-year-old Hasidic Jew living in Brooklyn… More
"The most important thing is this: relax, mind your business, and act Jewish" In the late 1990s, a drug ring recruited Hasidic Jews to smuggle ecstasy into the United States. Jesse Eisenberg plays Sam Gold, the wide eyed innocent 20-year-old Hasidic Jew living in Brooklyn who is thinking of becoming a rabbi while working with his father in a Manhattan fabric store. He also wants to get married to a girl from his neighborhood, but when his parents try to prearrange the marriage, the girl's family turns them down. Feeling rejected because his family doesn't have enough money or the social standing for this union, Sam becomes the target of a local neighbor named Yosef, played by Justin Bartha who is involved in very different kind of business which he describes as the 'import of the medicine for rich people' from Europe. He gets seduced into drug running only to find that life gets nastily complicated. As a whole, the story lacks some detail and sometimes it appears as if the creators have become lost in their own plot. In the end, Holy Rollers which is based on a true story fails to make any compelling statement about its core theme, which is that of opposing ideologies. We get little sense of how Sam feels about the Orthodox community he is rebelling against, what it means to him, or how he feels about being so successful (for a time) in his new "trade." <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=xptvdi" target="_blank"><img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/xptvdi.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=2vj8w3o" target="_blank"><img src="http://i56.tinypic.com/2vj8w3o.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> When it comes to things that don't mix very well, what are the first things that come to mind? Water and oil? How about Hasidic Jews and drug smuggling?
Bill C

The addition of a very ethnic torn between two worlds theme add very little to this drug mule coming of age in the 90's piece. The movie is based upon real life and yet the characters are very two dimensional along with the plot. I was waxing a little historic when they flashed… More
The addition of a very ethnic torn between two worlds theme add very little to this drug mule coming of age in the 90's piece. The movie is based upon real life and yet the characters are very two dimensional along with the plot. I was waxing a little historic when they flashed their passport to customs agent and jumped on an international flight. No pat-down, taking your shoes off or forgetting your swiss army knife in your pocket.
Daisy M

One thing is to have a great idea for a movie, but it's just entirely different to successfully make it. That seemed to happen more often in the Movie Industry these days, and for first-time director Kevin Asch's new drama, Holy Rollers, it was no exception. It featured… More
One thing is to have a great idea for a movie, but it's just entirely different to successfully make it. That seemed to happen more often in the Movie Industry these days, and for first-time director Kevin Asch's new drama, Holy Rollers, it was no exception. It featured early this year at the Aruba Film Festival as a non high-profile movie,and it failed to connect with audiences, and now I can understand why. It was about some Jews as drug mules and there was nothing particularly engaging about the material. Drug smuggling is supposed to be a dangerous profession, and for the characters in Holy Rollers, it was an unpleasant task which was like watching the movie itself.