We often hear that we use only a small percentage of our brains (and our actions often seem to prove this).

But what if there were a drug that allowed you access to all of it• You could learn new languages in a day, if not sooner, unlock the mysteries of the stock market, tap every ounce of potential available to you• Would you take such a drug?

Of course you would. But there’s a cost for everything, and not just financial. What would you be willing to pay for such a gift?

Warning: The price is steep.

That’s the dilemma at the heart of “Limitless,” director Neil Burger’s film that is both entertaining and surprisingly effective. Some of its conceits may not hold up under intense scrutiny, but, generally speaking, it’s a good time at the movies.

Bradley Cooper plays Eddie Morra, an aimless would-be writer who, despite getting an advance from a publisher, can’t pull the trigger on actually writing his book. Not a word of it. He gets dumped early on by his far-more-together girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish), and is wandering the streets of New York, heading back to his grimy apartment when he runs into his former brother-in-law Vernon (Johnny Whitworth). Over drinks, Vernon, a former drug dealer, notes how bad Eddie looks (making Cooper look grimy is no easy feat, but long, dirty hair, a bit of a gut and an unshaven face get the point across). Maybe he’d like to try a hit of NZT• It unlocks your potential, Vernon explains, in almost unimaginable ways.

He’s dubious, but with little to lose, Eddie eventually tries it — one pill. And within minutes he has access to every piece of information his brain has ever processed, even the things he wasn’t aware of. He scours his apartment, he writes a brilliant chapter of his book, he handles his overdue rent situation in a, ahem, creative way. His world is just brighter – literally. Burger has to this point shot the film in drab grays and blues, emphasizing the colorless life Eddie has been leading. But when he takes NZT, oranges and yellows appear, bathing the screen in light.

And the next day Eddie wakes up, and the world is gray and blue again. He wants — needs — more NZT, so he visits Vernon. Soon Eddie learns he’s not the only one who wants more. He also learns the lengths to which people are willing to go to get it.

He does score a big stash of the stuff and soon he is making money hand over fist in the stock market. This attracts the notice of Wall Street (and its regulators), most importantly that of the powerful Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro, thankfully playing a role worthy of him again). Van Loon wants Eddie’s expertise, he wants his knowledge — he wants his secret. Eddie’s not giving that away, but he is crashing, beginning to suffer side effects. Erratic behavior he can’t remember scares him, understandably, but he’s working a monster deal with Van Loon. He needs more, but what will it do to him•

Events force him to come clean with Lindy, and for her to sample the drug. She hates it — when she was on it, she wasn’t really herself, she says. Eddie argues that he is, just an enhanced version. But they don’t have time for much arguing; by this time all kinds of people are after Eddie, and it’s clear they aren’t a patient bunch. The film loses some steam as it becomes more and more an action thriller, and the ending is almost necessarily messy, as is often the case with these kinds of films. But up to that point the premise is intriguing enough and the execution good enough that the flaws aren’t fatal to the film’s success.

De Niro’s character might not rise to the level of Travis Bickle or Jake La Motta, but it’s far above the likes of Jack Byrnes in the “Focker” movies. And he has a scene in which Van Loon explains the facts of financial life to Eddie that make you realize that when the occasion arises, De Niro can still bring it.

As for Cooper, he’s finally given a role that allows him to be something more than bland and handsome. The struggling writer is such a cliched conceit that it’s hard to bring much new to it; Burger wisely casts that off fairly quickly and lets Cooper become something else — a man who is suddenly without limits, something that both thrills and terrifies him.

The title is ultimately misleading. “Limitless” does have limits as a film. But it also has enough strengths to overcome them.

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