Excellent but underrated film

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

In this very heart- felt story, comes a film starring two Doctors trying to cure the disease Pompeii. Starring as Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser. This film has moments of sadness, and happiness. But this film was definitely a lot better than I was expecting. With quite terrific performances from both Ford and Fraser, it leaves you thinking just how important a Doctor's work can be. This film is extremely underrated, I first watched it on Netflix and saw that it didn't have that much attention drawn to it, and was a kind of forgotten film, but this film surprised me just how much of an impact it had on me, and im no Doctor, but this film is not one to be missed by anyone.

Extraordinary Measures is supposedly based on true events. Like the 1992 film, Lorenzo's Oil it is the story of two parents in a relentless search for a cure. In this case children suffering from Pompe's disease.Brendan Fraser plays the dad who gives up a well paid executive job in order to develop a possible cure.Harrison Ford is the doctor who has done cutting edge research but needs to turn that research into a substantive cure.In their way is the search for finance which leads them to the arms of the pharmaceutical companies who have alternative agendas one of them being the search for the bottom line. The almighty dollar.Fraser does well as the doting dad who fears time for his son and daughter is running out, ably supported by Keri Russell who plays the mum.Ford on the other hand is again on the well trodden road as the sourpuss, the hard to get along maverick researcher. He really brings nothing new to the table as the grouch which he has been playing for many years nowThe biggest problem is that the film is just a big budget movie of the week with bigger stars. The script rather jogs along, Fraser seeks out Ford, Ford is sceptical and hard hearted, he mellows. Then once they hook up with the big pharmaceutical companies, they fall out as Ford is not a team player and then reunite as the drug trials start.The biggest stars of the film are the children who play the sufferers of Pompe's disease who bring home their plight more than the script does.

But as always it has been heightened or changed a bit for dramatic purposes obviously. I also have to admit, that when I first saw the poster for this I thought it would be a thriller. Turns out it is a drama, about a disease that affected people (especially kids) to a large extent. It's not really giving anything away, talking about the story in this case, because you can see where this is going from very early on/the beginning.But let's talk about the actors: Harrison Ford is only supporting actor in this, but he's having a lot of fun. The girl actress is also very good and natural. All those things help elevate the movie above some of the cliché turns it takes (over-dramatization). All in all, you'd be very hard not to feel anything for the characters in this story. Decent enough effort to bring the real story to the screen. Would like to see a documentary about this though (the real life incident, not the making of the movie).

"We've gotta get better cleavage between the alpha and beta sub-units." – Harrison Ford (Extraordinary Measures) An inferior version of "Lorenzo's Oil", "Extraordinary Measures" revolves around a family's attempts to find a cure for their son, who suffers from a rare, life threatening disease.The film screams "TV movie", and actors Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser turn in poor work, but the film's core message (that bureaucracy, pig-headedness and the almighty dollar stand in the way of progress, co-operation and man's ability to overcome obstacles) is worthwhile.The film serves up a happy ending, hurdles overcome and the kid saved by science. In reality, the cure that is used to save the boy costs $300,000 a year for life. It is so expensive that many American insurance companies refuse to pay for it, and it is widely available only in countries with universal health coverage. In other words, the film's happy ending is disingenuous. The problems overcome to find the cure are the problems which prevent the cure from reaching only the wealthiest of patients.7.9/10 – Worth one viewing.