Man, talk about a missed opportunity.
This oddly obscure medical film from prolific and uneven legend Sidney Lumet attempts to bridge the gap between comedy and drama, and although occasionally in succeeds (mostly in the snarky repartee between doctor James Spader and nurse Helen Mirren), it mostly fails due to a lack of depth in its characterization, and everything is attempts to do, "Scrubs" has done better at least 10 times a year.
It's basically the plot of the second half of "Million Dollar Baby", from the doctors' point of view, with all the random hospital jokes and long-winded speeches that come with that. Actually, considering Margo Martindale's presence at the vegetable's side, it feels more like that film that I was comfortable with, heh. But, being a James Spader movie, there has to be a random sex scene in the middle of it, and it got me out of that funk. It's not as kinky as I would have anticipated, although he does tape it. Actually, the cast is *shockingly* fabulous and makes me sad that they were wasted in such a middling film. In addition to Spader, we have Kyra Sedgwick (in a bizarrely-dressed performance), Helen Mirren, Anne Bancroft, Albert Brooks, Jeffrey Wright, Wallace Shawn, Colm Feore AND Edward Hermann. Really, you got THAT group together and made a lame, jokey hospital melodrama? Shame on you, Lumet.
It moved quickly and rarely grew painfully tiresome, but as every joke felt flat and every emotional scene fizzled harmlessly, it just made me nostalgic for the time two hours earlier when I was watching "Scrubs". Those were great times.
{Grade: 5.5/10 (C+/C) / #55 (of 66) of 1997}
This oddly obscure medical film from prolific and uneven legend Sidney Lumet attempts to bridge the gap between comedy and drama, and although occasionally in succeeds (mostly in the snarky repartee between doctor James Spader and nurse Helen Mirren), it mostly fails due to a lack of depth in its characterization, and everything is attempts to do, "Scrubs" has done better at least 10 times a year.
It's basically the plot of the second half of "Million Dollar Baby", from the doctors' point of view, with all the random hospital jokes and long-winded speeches that come with that. Actually, considering Margo Martindale's presence at the vegetable's side, it feels more like that film that I was comfortable with, heh. But, being a James Spader movie, there has to be a random sex scene in the middle of it, and it got me out of that funk. It's not as kinky as I would have anticipated, although he does tape it. Actually, the cast is *shockingly* fabulous and makes me sad that they were wasted in such a middling film. In addition to Spader, we have Kyra Sedgwick (in a bizarrely-dressed performance), Helen Mirren, Anne Bancroft, Albert Brooks, Jeffrey Wright, Wallace Shawn, Colm Feore AND Edward Hermann. Really, you got THAT group together and made a lame, jokey hospital melodrama? Shame on you, Lumet.
It moved quickly and rarely grew painfully tiresome, but as every joke felt flat and every emotional scene fizzled harmlessly, it just made me nostalgic for the time two hours earlier when I was watching "Scrubs". Those were great times.
{Grade: 5.5/10 (C+/C) / #55 (of 66) of 1997}