Extraordinary Measures (Brendan Fraser, Harrison Ford, Keri Russell) – Inspired by a true story (which means it is loosely based on reality), Extraordinary Measures catalogues the relentless journey of John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) to find a drug to treat two of his children who are suffering from Pompe Disease, a genetic disorder. Kids with this disease rarely live beyond age 7, and Fraser’s kids are 6 and 8 as the movie opens. He’s a marketing executive at a drug company but it appears no one is doing much research on this condition except an eccentric, socially incompetent professor at the University of Nebraska named Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford). Crowley eventually teams up with Stonehill to find and accelerate his fledgling research in order to get a treatment for the kids.
There are lots of roadblocks, among them the start-up money to get Stonehill involved; the venture capital company they need $10 million from; and the biotech firm that eventually adopts Stonehill’s enzyme work but creates four teams to compete for the cure. From here, the story is totally predictable. While the film holds your interest and the tears flow, everyone is miscast. Fraser looks a little pudgy and never quite convinced me he was Crowley. Ford, who is also an executive producer of the movie, just doesn’t fit the Stonehill character. We have seen a lot of Harrison Ford throughout his distinguished career as the biggest box office star ever but he seems ill-placed as a nerdy scientist who yells at everyone and has no social skills. Keri Russell, as Crowley’s wife, Aileen, is just fine but her performance is a cut below Waitress and August Rush.
That isn’t to say that I disliked the film because I didn’t. Criticism of this movie has been rampant and it opened at #8 in its first week with a scant $6 million at the box office. But while it is a bit overwrought and formulaic, it is also heartwarming and interesting.