Limitless ending explained: Does Eddie Morra's life get better for good after using nootropic NZT-48?

Neil Burger wants to see the world differently, as we saw in Inheritance. His 2011 film Limitless is another piece of his vision. It is a sure shot to tap the average human mind who wants to make their life better for good.

Bradley Cooper is one such Average Joe called Eddie Morra in it, but what's unlikely to happen in real life, finds this drug called NZT-48. And after consuming it, he is no short of a superhero.

Next we see him becoming an overnight success, again, a dream for many strugglers out there. However, it doesn't come without consequences and he is now dealing with people who are after this sort of magical drug that turns an Average Joe into a G.I. Joe.

Now consuming the pill did come with obstacles, but it certainly changed Eddie's life for good at the end of Limitless. But it was seriously an open-ended ending where there are both possibilities: he finally weaned himself off NZT-48, or maybe he found a way to enhance its effect without going through any side effects.

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How Eddie's life changed after using NZT-48 in Limitless

In the beginning, we are introduced to Eddie who is going through this creative block where he just doesn't have any idea about how to finish his book. Things in his life are messy and his girlfriend is about to leave him too.

But in a twisted plot, he meets with Vernon (Johnny Whitworth), who is the brother of his ex-wife, Melissa (Anna Friel), who gives him this nootropic. At first, Eddie doesn't believe that it will have the said effect on him.

Next we know, he begins his limitless life, where he has finished his book and made a healthy sum by investing in stocks. All in all, he pulls himself together after becoming one with NZT-48. But as we mentioned, there are consequences, which the viewers will notice as he encounters people who are after the drug.

Robert De Niro's Carlos "Carl" Van Loon is one important character we see in this film who later acquires the company that produces NZT-48. In the Limitless ending, he meets with Eddie, who is going to be the future senator. Now here's when Carl offers Eddie to keep him with a good supply of the drug in exchange for political favors, although Eddie turns down the offer.

Last we see him sitting with Lindy in a restaurant where he has a brief chat with the waiter in Mandarin. Now we don't know if he had worked on himself for a year after leaving NZT-48 or not; taking that drug made his life better, as we can see him now in contrast to his messy appearance in the beginning.

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What do fans have to say about the Limitless ending?

Fans feel like Limitless had an untidy ending. In a Reddit conversation that sparked around six years ago, this fan, who analyzed the final moments between Eddie and Carl, said,

"Good movie, but untidy ending."

We never got to know what Eddie did after giving up NZT-48 but given that he is portrayed as someone who likes shortcuts, he might have found one here too. Maybe he did use the remaining stock of the drug to enhance his abilities to find a solution to make an alternate; something's better.

But if we go by this theory, we need to assume that Eddie's life got better but he didn't.

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