Extraordinary Measures

Directed by Tom Vaughan

(PG)

*

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The father of a terminally ill girl seeks help from a grumpy biologist.

Extraordinary Measures is anything but extraordinary, said Rene Rodriguez in The Miami Herald. This “excruciatingly dull” adaptation of journalist Geeta Anand’s book The Cure “screams made-for-network-TV.” Brendan Fraser plays a father whose daughters suffer from Pompe disease, a rare form of muscular dystrophy that generally claims its victims before the age of 9. Desperate to save them, he joins forces with a cranky researcher (Harrison Ford) who has discovered a possible treatment. Such a premise obviously leaves you expecting a sob story, but director Tom Vaughan “lays the pathos on so thickly, you gag on it.” Introducing clichés and contrived crises, Vaughan trivializes the real events that inspired the book and the film, said Joe Morgenstern in The Wall Street Journal. When Extraordinary Measures isn’t getting bogged down by medical details, it’s wallowing in sentiment and sappy music. All this schmaltz is unnecessary, considering the genuinely moving subject matter, said Kate Ward in Entertainment Weekly. At its core, the film is a noble effort to humanize a family’s plight and a parent’s courage. “I dare you not to feel something” by its end.