Extraordinary Measures

The debut movie for CBS Films probably belonged on their network or even more likely on a sister network but this got the big screen bump instead. Brendan Fraser plays John Crowley a man who risks it all to bet on a brilliant but misunderstood scientist played by Harrison Ford. I even feel cheesy writing it. It has all the tools for an uplifting story but nothing seems to be executed right.

It could be the acting. There is no argument that Fraser's star has dwindled a bit since the beginning of the 2000's (by the way, what do we call last decade or this decade for that manner) so maybe he has to take what is given to him. Recently that's been softer scripts meant for family viewing but he is really not a correct fit in this role. He interacts well with the kids but he doesn't expresses grief or suffering well. When the film shifts themes midway through he does a much better job.

Rumor has it that right before every single take in the movie Ford was given a slight ball tap which explains why he seemed annoyed and angry during most of the movie. The character is given a softer side at some point showing that he is doing this for the right reasons but it all seems forced. For his efforts Harrison Ford got an EP credit for the film and for the first time since Return of the Jedi his name was not at the top of the credits.

Maybe its the writing. The story is there and we know the actors can be better. Keri Russel has certainly played characters in the past with a lot of emotional baggage that are forced to put on a brave face (read: Felicity) and certainly the two leads can be better. The writing buries itself in legal battles and shows the business behind the curing of disease instead of seeing parents on the edge. All the characters seem to be one dimensional and the interactions with others are the same throughout. The dialogues aren't poignant they're formulaic.

Maybe it's the music selection. They spent most of the time focusing on the choices of what Ford needed to listen to while he was pissing people off. And if you didn't buy this Lifetime movie of the week feel they include Clapton's "Change the World." While I like Clapton, could they pick a more cliche song? The more emotional points in the movie could have hit harder had the soundtrack of the movie played a little stronger. The best soundtracks seem to be the ones you don't know happened but can't get out of your head. With this movie it was noticeable that the soundtrack was lacking and after the movie I was still humming the soundtrack to "Next to Normal."

Even the editing was off. The cuts in the movie were jarring, and when the cut is noticeable you know something is wrong. While none of the words are cut off, it seems like they make their shot changes by cutting off the last exhale of the words which is usually done in newscasts when the rest of the shot is unusable.

But the blame needs to be put on the director Tom Vaughan. He was asked to pull it all together and instead came out with a movie where everything seemed a little off. The movie had all the potential to be something decent, but when it came down to crunch time the effort all around seemed kind of phoned in. D-/F+