By Lee Pfeiffer
Given the fact that the new medical drama Extraordinary Measures has received decidedly ordinary reviews, I wasn't particularly enthralled about seeing it. However, big screen appearances by Harrison Ford (who was executive producer on the film) are as rare as hen's teeth nowadays, so I thought I'd give it a try. The movie is the first to be released by CBS Films, the theatrical side of the TV network. The company intends to make modesty-budgeted films for wide audiences. The jury is still out as to whether the venture will succeed (Extraordinary Measures opened softly at the boxoffice). However, from an artistic standpoint, the company deserves praise for concentrating on stream-lined films that appeal to the intelligence of the audience, instead of bloated blockbusters. More importantly, the film - which has received modest praise for being workmanlike - is actually a completely engrossing and moving story that is wonderfully enacted under the direction of newcomer Tom Vaughan.
The story- inspired by real life events- centers on John and Aileen Crowley (Brendan Fraser and Kerri Russell), devoted middle-aged parents who are coping with a nightmarish scenario: two of their three young children are suffering from Pompe Disease, a rare genetic disorder that slowly kills most victims before the age of nine. With one daughter already nearing the end stages of her predicted lifespan, John Crowley goes into overdrive in the hope of finding any cure. The path leads to Dr. Robert Stonehill (Ford), a grumpy, eccentric Nebraska doctor whose progressive work on finding a cure has been woefully underfunded. In a desperate gamble, Crowley leaves his high power executive job to form a company with Stonehill to lobby for capital investors to provide the seed money so Stonehill's theories for a cure can be tested. The film includes heartbreaking scenes in which the father of a dying girl must talk to cold hearted investors about how many victims constitute "acceptable loss" before the company will make a profit. The film stays away from politics, but makes the point that, unlike most other developed countries, chronically ill people in the United States have to scramble to find good employer insurance policies to pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in treatment. Thus, Crowley is walking an emotional tightrope: if he stays loyal to his job, the time constraints rob him of the opportunity to find a cure for his kid's disease. If he quits his job, he loses the insurance plan that pays the $400,000 annually to treat his children. The film traces the huge setbacks and small victories both men encounter in their obsessive quest to help the relatively few victims of this insidious disease.
Both Ford and Fraser have something striking in common: they both rose to fame and fortune playing men of action in big budget adventure movies. With those days in decline (Ford due to age, Fraser perhaps due to his now refreshingly beefy physique), both actors have to look beyond their pasts to develop mature characters to play. Ford has been trying valiantly for years to interest audiences in his gentler side, but with the exception of Working Girl, some of his finest efforts (Regarding Henry, Sabrina and - most notably- The Mosquito Coast) have all flopped with his fan base. Now freed of the shackles of having to swing on vines or battle CGI-generated villains, both Ford and Fraser can back to the basics of being good actors. They have terrific chemistry together and their scenes bristle with humor as well as tension. They receive excellent support from Kerri Russell as the long-suffering wife and mother who somehow finds the courage to keep a "normal" household in the midst of the worst crisis any parent can imagine.
If there is one thing I got out Extraordinary Measures was a reaffirmation of what I've always believed: that the real heroes are not up on screen or on a football field. They are everyday people who engage in acts of great courage every day on behalf of ill or disabled loved ones. No screenwriter can give proper tribute to these individuals, but Extraordinary Measures comes about as close as you can get. Â