Movie Review-"Extraordinary Measures"
No matter how compelling - and heartwarming - the true story of theCrowley family is, it's hard to watch "Extraordinary Measures" withoutthinking "Lifetime."
The disease of the week genre didn't start on the network for women,but it set up camp there all the same."Measures," which tells how John Crowley risked everything to find acure for his children's fatal disease, can't help but mimic some ofthe genre's bullet points.
But the tension between the two leads - Brendan Fraser and anirascible Harrison Ford - provide enough texture to distance the filmfrom TV-style trappings.And there's no Meredith Baxter Birney in sight.
Fraser plays John Crowley, a hard-working family man trying to savethe lives of two of this three children. They suffer from PompeDisease, a debilitating condition which typically means reaching theage of 10 is all but impossible.
The Crowley's have tried every treatment within reach, but when Johnhears about a researcher tackling the disease from a fresh perspectivehe decides to reach out to him.
Dr. Stonehill (Ford) thinks he can unlock the puzzle behind PompeDisease but lacks the funding to do it. So John quits his job anddedicates himself to creating a company to fund the doctor's research.
Easier said than done, especially since Dr. Stonehill is a crank ofthe first order and the jobless John suddenly don't have a supportsystem for the rest of his family."Measures," based on a true story but told with some Hollywood deckshuffling, is the kind of film one would be hard pressed to hate. Thesame goes to Fraser, whose genial presence gives his John Crowley thenecessary decency to relate to his controversial decisions.That inherent threatens to overwhelm the story.
That's where Ford comes in. The actor has been mostly leaden in recentroles, often because the material around him has been so sub-standard.If the actor had one wish it might be to wipe "Hollywood Homicide" off his resume.
Here, Ford gives Dr. Stonehill a crackling edge. He's crusty andstubborn but with a heart buried beneath layers of cynicism.John's battles with Dr. Stonehill elevate the movie beyond its obviousstory arc.
The film finds a new conflict every 15 minutes, but director TomVaughn ("What Happens in Vegas") stages each flare up so as to keep usengage, not obviously pull our strings.Courtney B. Vance gets too little screen time as a parent who also hastwo children with the condition. Other roles which seem clippedinclude Alan Ruck as a co-worker and Dee Wallace Stone as asympathetic barmaid.
"Extraordinary Measures" can't compare to the real Crowleys' tale, butas feel-good cinema it hits most of the right marks.
The disease of the week genre didn't start on the network for women,but it set up camp there all the same."Measures," which tells how John Crowley risked everything to find acure for his children's fatal disease, can't help but mimic some ofthe genre's bullet points.
But the tension between the two leads - Brendan Fraser and anirascible Harrison Ford - provide enough texture to distance the filmfrom TV-style trappings.And there's no Meredith Baxter Birney in sight.
Fraser plays John Crowley, a hard-working family man trying to savethe lives of two of this three children. They suffer from PompeDisease, a debilitating condition which typically means reaching theage of 10 is all but impossible.
The Crowley's have tried every treatment within reach, but when Johnhears about a researcher tackling the disease from a fresh perspectivehe decides to reach out to him.
Dr. Stonehill (Ford) thinks he can unlock the puzzle behind PompeDisease but lacks the funding to do it. So John quits his job anddedicates himself to creating a company to fund the doctor's research.
Easier said than done, especially since Dr. Stonehill is a crank ofthe first order and the jobless John suddenly don't have a supportsystem for the rest of his family."Measures," based on a true story but told with some Hollywood deckshuffling, is the kind of film one would be hard pressed to hate. Thesame goes to Fraser, whose genial presence gives his John Crowley thenecessary decency to relate to his controversial decisions.That inherent threatens to overwhelm the story.
That's where Ford comes in. The actor has been mostly leaden in recentroles, often because the material around him has been so sub-standard.If the actor had one wish it might be to wipe "Hollywood Homicide" off his resume.
Here, Ford gives Dr. Stonehill a crackling edge. He's crusty andstubborn but with a heart buried beneath layers of cynicism.John's battles with Dr. Stonehill elevate the movie beyond its obviousstory arc.
The film finds a new conflict every 15 minutes, but director TomVaughn ("What Happens in Vegas") stages each flare up so as to keep usengage, not obviously pull our strings.Courtney B. Vance gets too little screen time as a parent who also hastwo children with the condition. Other roles which seem clippedinclude Alan Ruck as a co-worker and Dee Wallace Stone as asympathetic barmaid.
"Extraordinary Measures" can't compare to the real Crowleys' tale, butas feel-good cinema it hits most of the right marks.
posted by Ron Futrell at
11:17 AM
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