As Good As It Gets

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Excellent book! However, screenplay toned down most of the character's strong points. In the book, Dr. Susan Wheeler is a strong woman with strong convictions, not just a pretty young medical student who stumbled upon events. She investigated the occurrences at Boston Memorial hospital as a detective would and did not just wonder what was happening as the movie portrays. The screenplay at times runs on like a bad soap opera.The book holds it's own as true mystery thriller. (After reading the book, honestly it was a little hard to stay awake till the end of the movie.) The only thing holding up this movie is the book. So, again, save time and just read the book. Very good novel!

The main problem with the film watching it today is that it's almost four decades old as I write this, thereby having quite a dated quality to it. The story itself is a pretty good one with an element of suspense supported by the idea that maybe something like this could actually happen. If you think about it, the ebay for body parts concept is in full play today for important organs like the heart, liver and kidneys, so who knows if in the deep, dark recesses of medical malpractice something like this might be going on even now.What will really blow you away is when the story moves over to the Jefferson Institute and you get to see all those comatose bodies suspended in mid-air waiting for who knows what. That was just the absolute worst stuff of horror one could imagine if you were somebody like Dr. Susan Wheeler (Genevieve Bujold) investigating the sudden 'deaths' of patients coming out of Operating Room #8.So with all the possible nightmare conspiracy thoughts going through Wheeler's head, I was rather surprised that the story reverted back to a 'keep it simple' strategy by the outlaw doctors running this little medical scam. The carbon monoxide strategy filled that bill perfectly, but gee, wouldn't you think Dr. Bellows (Michael Douglas) could have just burst into the operating room when his girlfriend was on the table instead of taking the long way around through the labyrinth of storage rooms and duct work? At least he made the save, for a while there I thought he was in on the whole body parts business himself.Like any job I guess, one gets somewhat blasé about the work conditions and every day boredom that might set in, so that scene of the pathology residents, (one of which was Ed Harris) discussing 'complete squash rot' and 'total gomer' to describe their autopsy patients was a bit of comic relief for this viewer. If this film had been made about thirty years earlier, you might even have seen them lighting up a smoke as they went about their business.

Dr. Susan Wheeler (Geneviève Bujold) and Dr. Mark Bellows (Michael Douglas) are resident surgeons in Boston Memorial Hospital and are living together. Her friend is a patient who falls into a coma after surgery. There has been a series of comas in the hospital. Susan starts investigating and stepping on many toes. Mark plays politics and is pressured to reel in his girlfriend. Susan discovers that all the comas come from one operating room and the patients get transferred to Jefferson Institute for long term care.Michael Crichton directs and adapts the novel by Robin Cook. It's got some very good paranoia thriller vibe during the second half. The first half can be a grind. Crichton is not the best at pushing the pace when the story isn't at its most intense. He could have had some help. Geneviève is not always the most animated actor. Her investigation could have been more compelling. It is an interesting movie with a great twist.

Plot : Geneviève Bujold investigates shady goings on in a Hospital and finds her life in danger.Acting : Serviceable, Richard Widmark was my fave performance, big fan of his movies from the 50's. Geneviève Bujold was not entirely likable throughout and i kind of wished Michael Douglas was lead character as his natural charisma shows here. saying that i thought Bujold did well and blame the writing more than her for how her character turned out.Action/Suspense : An unintentionally hilarious assassination aside i really enjoyed the few chase of hide and seek sequences in second half of movie. Best being a scene in the morgue, felt like a slasher movie. The Jefferson institute scenes were also compelling and the final few minutes offer great tension as Michael Douglas races against time to save his lady on the operation table.Cameos : Lois Chiles looking lovely as a soon to be unfortunate victim. Tom Selleck rocking an awesome pre Magnum mustache and Ed Harris in his first role with a fine head of hair looking like a young Will Patton. Nudity : A surprising amount for a PG movie including Geneviève Bujold having a shower,Music : The score doesn't kick in till second half of movie but Jerry Goldsmith music helps the suspense brilliantly and improves the film as a whole.Cinematography : Depressing hospital interiors aside there is a sequence in the middle of movie where Bujold and Douglas go on a day out and it looks all soft focus and inconsistent with look of the rest of movie.Directing : Unremarkable but solid.Overall : Saw this as a kid and always had a fondness for it, revisiting it twenty years later i am happy to say i still thoroughly enjoy it, an intriguing plot, suspenseful chases and a satisfying climax make for an entertaining and solid thriller.