Review of Extraordinary Measures (2010) by Van R — 17 May 2010

"What Happens in Vegas" director Tom Vaughan juggles predictable emotional story elements with real-life situations in his medical breakthrough tearjerker drama "Extraordinary Measures." This Brendan Frasier & Harrison Ford melodrama qualifies as above average for its type.

Inspired by true events, "Extraordinary Measures" charts the success story of real-life Bristol-Myers Squibb Company marketing executive John Crowley (Brendan Fraser of "The Mummy: trilogy) who saved the lives of two of his kids, Megan (Meredith Droeger) and Patrick (Diego Velazquez), from a devastating childhood disease called Pompe.

This ailment is a progressive genetic disorder that ends with muscle weakness, organ failure and inevitably death. When a doctor assures John and wife Aileen (Keri Russell of "Waitress") that they should regard the imminent death of their daughter as a blessing.

John drops everything to find a man with the cure. Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford of the "Indiana Jones" movies) is as cantankerous as they come, but Crowley believes that he is the man with a cure.

Unfortunately, John has no luck contacting the man, so he takes a plane to Lincoln, Nebraska, and promises to raise funds for their research. Stonehill is somewhat of an oddball who listens to loud rock music, owns a pick-up truck, and has a penchant for going fishing when the mood strikes him.

Together, they embark on a love & hate relationship as each struggle for a cure. Fraser and Ford pull it off and Vaughn never lets the research part bog down in medial jargon. "The Water House" scenarist Robert Nelson Jacobs adapted Geeta Anand's book "â??The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million - and Bucked the Medical Establishment - in a Quest to Save His Children.

â?? In many ways, "Extraordinary Measures" is reminiscent of "Lorenzo"s Oil." In real life, a Taiwanese doctor at Duke University created the cure for the disease. You will walk away inspired by Crowley's tenacity.