Review of Extraordinary Measures (2010) by Jessi H — 01 Jul 2010

Brendan Fraser has never been better. His performance was heartfelt and gripping. I've never seen him so believable. Ford does well as the jerk, scattered professor trying to maek his theory a reality. I've never seen him play a role like this, and he did it brilliantly. This isn't a "make you feel bad about the world" movie. Its inspiring and heart-warming.

Think if you were about to lose not one but TWO children to the same disease and the doctors predicted you would lose both children within a year of each other. The story highlights how one man gave up his job, health insurance, and source of income to pursue the dream of developing a medicine to help save the lives of his children. Its a story about faith and trust in ideas and dreams.

One thing this movie does not portray is the physical disfigurement the disease causes. It does take us through a year in the life of their children as they begin to lose the ability to throw a ball or even breath comfortably. Its amazing what two men came together to achieve. Courtney Vance is also touching in his role of a parent with a 9-year-old and an infant with the disease.

The scenery is beautiful, the directing wonderful, and the casting perfection. I thought it was an extremely well-crafted movie. It does go a little long, but its not like "Flash of Genius" long. This is a movie any parent can relate to and get wrapped up in the story of. I highly recommend it as something that will amaze you. Lets face it, there's so much writing about medical advances, but how much money is necessarily put towards this research? As Ford's character illustrates, he comments about how the Nebraska football coach makes double what his lab makes and is not nearly enough to ever develop the medicine. Its just research... until John Crowley came in to change the way of thinking about medicine.