Extraordinary Measures review

Here's my review of Extraordinary Measures I wrote for a recent Irish Times...

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Harrison Ford, Keri Russell, Jared Harris, Meredith Droeger and Alan Ruck
Directed by Tom Vaughn
PG Certificate, General Release, 1 hour, 49 minutes

Science has gotten a bad rap lately. People are protesting against schools teaching Darwinism; they’re diagnosing themselves based with Google searches; they’re embracing a dizzying number of fad diets. Misinformation and confusion about science seems to be spreading across all media. So Extraordinary Measures, while very conventional, has the accidental good fortune of proving topical. Even its tagline (“Don’t hope for a miracle, make one”) sounds like a poke in the eye to the religious right.

Extraordinary Measures has Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford playing variations on familiar personas. While Fraser is in a more serious role than, say, George of the Jungle, he’s still a lanky, loveable goof. And Ford, while brandishing a test tube instead of a whip or a gun, is once again a grouchy but gifted maverick.

Despite the presence of such well-known actors, the premise of Extraordinary Measures sounds decidedly like a mediocre TV movie. Pompe disease is a rare genetic illness which hinders the patients’ ability to break down sugar, eventually attacking the muscles and heart. When we meet John Crowley (Fraser) two of his three children are suffering from the potentially fatal disease. The smallest sliver of hope is represented by a surly scientist in a far-flung college lab. Despite his potentially revolutionary work, the career of Dr. Bob Stonehill (Ford) has been under-funded and overlooked.

Eager for funding for Bob’s research, desperate John and angry Bob eventually decide to go into business together, putting all their chips on Bob’s potential cure.

Despite that awful title and workmanlike direction, Extraordinary Measures is surprisingly ingratiating. It’s a good yarn (a true story, of course), Fraser and Ford are both ideal, and Jared Harris, as a cold and bureaucratic pharmacist, is a well-drawn villain. Yes, it would have been nice, for example, if the kids weren’t so precocious and if there was a little more science. However, its strengths definitely outweigh its weakness, making for an old-fashioned, emotionally manipulative drama of genuine heroism.