Starring: Brendan Fraser (GI Joe Rise of the Cobra), Oscar Nominee Harrison Ford (Witness), Golden Globe winner Keri Russell ("Felicity"), Jared Harris ("Mad Men"), Dee Wallace (Soupernatural), Indie Spirit Nominee Courtney B. Vance (Blind Faith)
Directed by: Tom Vaughn (What Happens in Vegas & "Big Love")
Written by: Oscar nominated writer of Chocolat Robert Nelson Jacobs based on the book by Geeta Anand titled "The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million - And Bucked the Medical Establishment - in a Quest to Save His Children"
Plot: The title of the original book explains it all. The disease is a type of Muscular Dystrophy called Pompe.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgbUFkftJl0
Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1_K0WxnD9E
Review: This is not a movie about disease. This is a movie about science. I rented it hoping to see Lorenzo's Oil and got The Magic Bullet instead. I'm not bagging on the movie for being about science, I just prefer disease. I like the seeing the psychological and physical ramifications because the payoff is bigger whether or not the character dies. That's what was missing in this film. Twenty minutes could've been added at the beginning to the movie so we could see the diagnosis and how their lives change because of it. For a movie about science, it didn't have enough of it. Show the science part, not just the business part. Show the failed experiments. Show the struggle to turn a scientific theory into a therapy. Another thing that kind of pissed me off was the fact that the father was a rich man. We was no John Q. Money cures diseases after all. The movie relies heavily on the strength of its performances which were good for the most part, but not amazing. There will be no Oscar nominations for performance here. The best scenes were between Ford and Fraser. The dynamic really worked, and Ford seemed to really bring out the best in Fraser. It was Fraser's other scenes that were a bit lacking. Ford also had the best character arc and most three dimensional character. Russell did very well with what little screen time she was given, and I really like the relationship between her and John. Courtney B. Vance was very moving in his small role, and Megan surprisingly was the one who provided the comic relief, which is unusual because the patients in these movies are usually exploited for tears. I love Keri Russell. She’s really the only reason I wanted to see the movie in the first place. I appreciate the true story behind it, and I did get teary-eyed a few times, but it just wasn't a complete story for me. It couldn't decide whether it was a movie about disease or science and couldn't seem to meld the two together. Unless you're a huge Keri Russell fan like me, rent Lorenzo's Oil instead.
Rating:
Writing-C
Directing-B
Music-B
Cinematography-B
Editing-C
Costumes-B
Art Direction-B
Hair-C- Horrible mom haircut on Russell.
Makeup-B
** Stars
No comments:
Post a Comment