Extraordinary Measures Review

[Westside Steve]

Extraordinary Measures

CBS films

PG 106 min

 

Folks, I feel badly about this. I wanted to like this movie; I really did.

Seriously who among us doesn’t love Harrison Ford? Not only that but he’s playing a reluctant hero who comes through in the end to save the day just like a grizzled Han Solo.

I even like Brandon Fraser who gets a bad rap for appearing in a few stinkers that offered up a paycheck. I mean to say that he hasn’t personally ruined anything on his own.

And while we’re talking here, let me mention there are sick children to be saved in this movie and as cranky as old Westside Steve can be, he doesn’t want any little tykes to suffer.

That said I might have had cause to be wary of EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES.

First red flag is the “inspired by actual events” in the opening scene. That means just about any amount of bull**** is covered.

Second is that it’s actually compared to ERIN BROCKOVICH and that’s supposed to be an incentive to the viewer!

Well, the similarities exist and that’s one reason this one isn’t very good.

In EB the bottom line is that a big law firm rakes in millions and is portrayed as a champion of the common man.

I don’t know many of the particulars as they concern John Crowley (Fraser), a Harvard business grad and big pharm exec that teams up with the curmudgeonly research scientist Dr Stonehill (Ford) in search of a treatment for a rare childhood ailment.

In both cases the fact that the underdog sells out to the big corporate entity is downplayed and the David versus Goliath hook is amplified.

Now if there are any little kids out there who are helped by this treatment I say great and I hope Crowley and Stonehill and even the executives at the giant pharmaceutical company make a kajillion dollars.

As for the movie? Ehhhh, its one cliché after the other, with a plot so contrived that it’s almost impossible to accept. As for the acting, while it isn’t bad, it is so under the top that it’s hard to get involved.

In the end it’s a second rate string puller but certainly not worthy of any real scorn.

After all there’s no Julia Roberts.

C

WSS

 

Email westsidesteve@aol.com