Critical Care . Tucson Weekly . 01-12-98

Critical Care

DIRECTED BY: Sidney Lumet

REVIEWED: 01-12-98

Director Sidney Lumet has had a long, prestigious career making films like 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon and Network; but his latest, Critical Care, is pretty bad. James Spader does a so-so Jimmy Stewart impersonation, trying for an everyman appeal as Dr. Werner Ernst, an oversexed but well-meaning resident sucked into a right-to-die-case, with a twist. Albert Brooks plays an alcohol-damaged doctor who cracks jokes about, what else, HMOs. Kyra Sedgwick is the bratty daughter of a comatose millionaire. Each character seems to have sprung from a different movie, and the lack of unity is startling. Throw in a not-so-distant future setting (where critically ill patients recline on inflatable pool toys) and some corny lines about healing the sick, and you have one disappointing lump of a movie.

--Richter

Full Length Reviews
Critical Care

Capsule Reviews
Critical Care
Critical Care
Critical Care

Other Films by Sidney Lumet
Gloria
Night Falls on Manhattan

Film Vault Suggested Links
Little Shots Of Happiness
He Got Game
A Slipping-Down Life

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