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Starring |
Harrison Ford
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Brendan Fraser
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Keri Russell
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Directed By |
Tom Vaughn
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Running Time |
105 mins
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UK Release Date |
February 26, 2010
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Genre |
Drama
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Our Rating |
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User Rating |
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Dismissed in the States as a made-for-TV-style real-life film, this is actually a perfectly well-made, moving and finely-crafted drama, with an always watchable cast.
Of course it’s not going to win prizes for originality – Lorenzo’s Oil covered almost exactly the same ground in 1992 – but that seems a churlish criticism. Brendan Fraser plays John Crowley, a successful businessman who gives up his job to pursue a cure for the fatal Pompe’s disease that has developed in two of his children. He is good at fundraising but has limited medical knowledge, so he recruits maverick genius Dr Stonehill (Ford), who is almost as good at alienating his peers as he is at developing cures. He has never actually produced a workable drug, but together the pair set up a lab to find a cure for Pompe’s, which is a condition where the patient is missing an enzyme and cannot break down certain types of sugar, resulting in an enlarged heart.
When they run out of funding they are bought out by a huge multinational company, on the condition that Crowley doesn’t interfere and Stonehill behaves himself. Of course neither happens. Crowley is desperate for a cure as his two children approach their sixth birthday – their life expectancy – and tries to rush the results through. Stonehill discovers that his drug is just one of four being developed, and refuses to play ball. A plot twist enables a resolution to be reached without too much contrivance.
It would be easy to be manipulative with this material, but director Tom Vaughan gets the details just right. Fraser and Russell are on fine form as the worried parents, and Fraser in particular never overplays the driven dad. Ford’s is the most interesting role – he seems more comfortable in a supporting role than taking the lead, which in recent times have seemed to ask too much of him. Here, as the maverick doctor who plays rock music at full volume, swigs beer and bellows “I already work around the clock” at anyone who will listen, the part of an unpopular man seems to fit him better. Stonehill is a character without charm but with an inner steel – and two ex-wives – and Ford gives a creditable showing.
Overall Verdict: Solid family drama based on a real-life case, well-handled and with a reliable cast.
Reviewer: Mike Martin
