Sometimes, formula material, when handled by some decent talent, can still be turned into something charming and winning. You don’t have to look much further than Fox Searchlight’s “Crazy Heart,” a project originally envisioned as a made-for-TV vehicle that was picked up, dusted off and spit-shined into an Oscar contender. It’s by no means a highly original or even spectacular film, but its homespun, lived in feel, coupled with solid performances by the cast, turned it into a small, enjoyable film. “Extraordinary Measures” is the flipside to that equation. While it boasts the talents of Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser and is based on a pretty amazing true story, it’s so routinely executed, you can practically sense the actors waiting for the director to yell cut so they can get on with their lives.
As the first theatrical release for the fledgling CBS Films, it frankly feels like something we’d find on the network station on a Saturday afternoon. This attempt at a feel good weepie (that is so manipulative it actually ends up being even more emotionally stifling) is about John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) who, facing the impending death of two of his three children from the incurable Pompe disease, tracks down the leading researcher Dr. Robert Stonehill (a cranky Harrison Ford) to see what he can do save his kids. When Stonehill tells him he needs money for research, Crowely quits his job, starts a biotech with Stonehill, sells it to a big pharma company, and they develop a drug that manages to prolong his kids’ lives. All within a span of one year. Pretty remarkable huh?
Not if you’re director Tom Vaughan. The auteur behind “What Happens In Vegas” and “Starter For 10” is so busy moving the picture along from episodic plot point to episodic plot point, that he fails to really convey how utterly incredible it is that this guy managed to accomplish this feat in such a short amount of time. Even more, because the material is so rote, there is absolutely no dramatic tension. We know that we’re going to get our happy ending so any obstacles, which all happen to be fairly trivial anyway, are just momentary distractions to keep us from leaving the theater altogether.
There frankly isn’t much else to talk about with the picture. Fraser and Ford are pretty much on autopilot here, though Ford is kind of enjoyable in his grouchy curmudgeon mode. But, the supporting cast seems to try and rally to make something of the material they’re given. Keri Russell fleshes out a pretty thankless role as sidekick to Fraser/suffering mother, while Jared Harris has fun with a much sleazier (and American) version of the character he plays on “Mad Men”. Even Courtney Vance in his very brief screen time, injects more heart into the project that the leads do for nearly two hours.
A couple of days ago it was revealed that CBS Films honcho Les Moonves came in and “saved” the film, mostly by some editing and changing the ending. Really? We shudder to think at what shape the film was in before he got his hands on it. “Extraordinary Measures” is supposed to be the launch film for this new film division, but as many have already pointed out, it feels like something you’d find on CBS TV. “Extraordinary Measures” is only notable for instilling in us no emotion at all. Clearly, it’s not a good movie by any means, but it’s so sterile and lifeless, it can’t even work up in us the emotion to hate it on any kind of level. An even slightly more ambitious film might have addressed some of the health care issues it raises, but the movie is so single-minded in its narrative focus, it winds up being the kind of picture we’ve seen already a half dozen times. [D+]
