Good concept, poorly executed.

An action-packed slog

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The efficient surgeon Dr. Jack MacKee (William Hurt) is a successful, wealthy and indifferent man, married to but distant from his wife Anne (Christine Lahti) and their son Nicky. When Jack is diagnosed with a growth in his throat, he is submitted to radiation therapy and feels how patients are treated and exposed in the hospital. He befriends the fellow patient June Ellis (Elizabeth Perkins), who has incurable brain tumor, and she gives a lesson of life to him. But his treatment does not work and Jack needs to be submitted to a surgery. What will happen to him?"The Doctor" is a sensitive drama with a magnificent story of a doctor that changes his values when he understands the perspective of patients after becoming one with cancer. William Hurt, Christine Lahti and Elizabeth Perkins have wonderful performances and the story is never corny despite the pleasant conclusion. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Um Golpe do Destino" ("A Strike of the Destiny")

I'm truly surprised that The Doctor got no Oscar nominations. Maybe because it tells some uncomfortable truths about death, dying, and the medical profession. And William Hurt in the title protagonist role was certainly Oscar worthy.Hurt is a successful surgeon with all the perks that his high priced profession can give him. He has a wife, Christine Lahti and a child and lives more than comfortably. Hurt also enjoys the perks of playing God with people's lives as doctors certainly do.That all changes when Hurt is discovered to have a malignant growth in his throat. Then he becomes a patient and sees from that point of view how some in his profession treats whom it is supposed to serve.The real eye opener is Hurt meeting a terminally ill Elizabeth Perkins who is facing death with as much fear and trepidation as most of us would be doing. Hurt learns a few life lessons from her.Another performance of note is that of colleague Mandy Patinkin who Hurt sees a reflection of his former self and truly grows to despise. Still Patinkin treats the people he serves like so much cattle, I doubt he'll ever get it.Hurt is also a teaching resident in his hospital and in the end you really wish that hospitals make what he does a general policy for its new interns.The Doctor is a real eye opener of a film. Don't miss it and the Oscar caliber performances of William Hurt and Elizabeth Perkins. A rotten shame they and the film were not nominated.

Many times "The Doctor" crouches about to pounce on intrinsic deficiencies beclouding medical bureaucracy, then shies away at almost every opportunity. While Doctor MacKee (the remarkable William Hurt) does undergo certain difficulties when diagnosed with throat cancer and thrown in amongst the afflicted rabble - in accessing his files, being patronized, filling out forms, etc. - his ultimately smooth operation and recovery tempers the humiliating tribulations he was made to suffer.And he's a doctor. His wallet is completely unaffected, thereby negating whole chains of effects which compound problems between patients, their afflictions and hospitals.Second act enters Chick Flick mode when MacKee's marriage falters (with Christine Lahti - who does a great "sad smile" - playing the troubled wife because plot device calls for it) and he leans on fellow patient (pert, young and pale Elizabeth Perkins) for psychological support. Platonically. Doubt this faux-romance would have flared up had Perkins been 58 and slightly paunchy.The disdain that the black hole vortex of the medical profession affords us non-medical civilians cannot be assuaged by this shallow fantasy, which ends with MacKee reconciling his marriage (after his platonic pillar dies) and then forcing his med students to pretend patienthood for 72 hours to experience patient humiliation.Though addressing the problem from the wrong end, it is a nice sentiment. But absolute malarkey.(Movie Maniacs, visit: www.poffysmoviemania.com)

The premise seemed a little too straightforward at first glance: Doctor becomes patient. But it is so well executed, you can't help but be drawn in. I kept suspecting it was going to turn sappy at any moment, but director Randa Haines does not hold back on the emotional awkwardness that comes from difficult situations. There is much less sentimentality than Haines' best-known film, Children of a Lesser God. And although Hurt is far less "charming" in this film than he was in that one, he actually is more watchable. The more difficult he becomes, the more interesting the film gets.Another intriguing aspect of the film is the feelings Chritine Lahti's character experiences, from sympathy to anger, to jealousy, to feeling shut out, you name it. In fact, the film could have delved even deeper into their marital discord and it would not have lost me. For some this film may go down a little too easily, but I think the accessibility of the subject matter in this case is an asset.