Product: Vital Signs (1990)
Rating: 3.0
A movie to remind you why "ER" was such an impressive TV show
If it were not for the fact that there is a brief nude scene involving Diane Lane, you could well think that "Vital Signs" is a filed television pilot. But this 1990 theatrical film, which predates "ER" but might remind you more of "Grey's Anatomy" since it focuses on a group of third year medical students going through their rotations at a hospital. Dr. David Redding (Jimmy Smits) is the "dean" and head of surgery, and the main focus of the drama is the contest between Michael Chatham (Adrian Pasdar), the son of a famous surgeon (William Devane), and Kenny Rose (Jack Gwaltney), who is married to Lauren (Laura San Giacomo), but is too busy competing with Chatham for the big internship prize to give her even ten minutes to catch a quick meal together.Other students in the mix are Gina Wyler (Diane Lane), who finds Chatham to be more sympathetic than Dr. Donald Ballentine (Bradley Whitford), and Bobby Hayes (Tim Ransom) and Suzanne Maloney (Jane Adams), who end up being closer than mere study buddies and are not sure what to do about it. Otherwise the students encounter your standard med school problems: a patient who dies for no apparent reason, fainting at the sight of blood, opening up a patient to find their condition is inoperable, and having a superior fail to listen to you when you know you are right.Director Marisa Silver had worked on "L.A. Law," which might explain why Jimmy Smits signed on to do the film even though he is playing a supporting role to all of the young doctor wannabes. "Vital Signs" is okay, but given what we have seen on television since 1990 it just seems so pedestrian in terms of what happens. For those of us who were used to watching Victor Ehrlich train under Dr. Mark Craig on "St. Elsewhere" these young doctors have it so easy and it just seems so strange to see a theatrical movie that is so much tamer than network television. Being a cleaner version of "Gross Anatomy" is not a strong recommendation and you will find yourself being more impressed by "ER" no matter how far it has fallen from its once lofty perch. The acting is competent enough, but "Vital Signs" is also hurt by an intrusive musical score that is used to pump some life into scenes. More often than not the effort is counterproductive because you stop and realize what limitations in the film the music is trying to gloss over.