Bad Medicine (1985)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

Harvey Miller

Writers:

Steven Horowitz (novel) and
Neil Offen (novel) ...

Release Date:

22 November 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

An inside look at the best student in the world's worst medical school.

Plot:

Jeff Marx wants to study medicine and become a physician. However, his grades are far from enough to get him into an American medical school...

Plot Keywords:

Medical School | Exam | Police | Corpse | Limousine

Cast

Steve Guttenberg	...	Jeff Marx
Alan Arkin	...	Dr. Ramón Madera
Julie Hagerty	...	Liz Parker
Bill Macy	...	Dr. Gerald Marx
Curtis Armstrong	...	Dennis Gladstone
Julie Kavner	...	Cookie Katz
Joe Grifasi	...	Gómez
Robert Romanus	...	Carlos
Taylor Negron	...	Pepe the Cab Driver
Candi Milo	...	María Morales
Gilbert Gottfried	...	Tony Sandoval
Arturo Venegas	...	Jesús the Gunman
Arne Gordon	...	Bruno the Witch Doctor
Manuel Pereiro	...	Dr. Miguel Cervantes
Eileen Way	...	Sra. Madera, Ramon's Mother

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:15 | USA:PG-13 | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Spain

Company:

Lantana

Soundtrack:

LA BONITA NOCHE

Bad Medicine, no kidding. The movie could use a shot, too.

OK, these folks had a cast of good actors - in fact there are some pleasant surprises in that department, enough to make this a slightly better than average film. More on that later.

The screenplay and direction... well, it seems sometimes that any laughs in this thing were accidental - what may have been intended to be the big jokes fall flat, leaving incidental chances for levity. Very occasional chances until well into the film - so hang in there, people, it does get better.

What excuse do the people offer for this film? If you're going to do accent and ethnic humor, DO it. Don't hire Alan Arkin, then let him sleepwalk through an acting job - make him ACT, more than he did in the first half of this film. Beat him if you must, but do it.

Good points? Steve Guttenberg actually surprised me on this one - he did an excellent job of acting, up there with his opening scenes in "The Boys From Brazil" as the young amateur Nazi hunter. So did Gilbert Gottfried, for that matter - he's much better than I have seen him perform in his other films. Bill Macy puts in an honest job, much more than I can say of Arkin, who seems to phone his lines in.

Production values?

The camera-work's pretty good - they shot the film in Spain and decent professionals did the technical work, but the person responsible for the soundtrack should be shot for having a very heavy hand with the brass in the orchestra and stealing the guitarist from some backyard porn studio in Marin County.

Yeah, you should watch it. It's worthwhile if you stick with the film until almost halfway through.