Race-for-Cure Pic Regrettably Ordinary

Medical drama Extraordinary Measures is well-intentioned and reasonably compelling, say critics, but most of them agree that it's TV-movie rather than big-screen fare.

• The first release from CBS films doesn't go beyond its "genotype as a disease-of-the-week telepic," writes Rob Nelson at Variety, "despite the star power of Brendan Fraser as the desperate dad and Harrison Ford as an eccentric, ornery researcher."

• The movie has more substance than its style suggests, argues Gary Thompson at the Philadelphia Daily News. The story of a dad battling to bring a new drug to market to save his dying children is a timely one amid the health care reform debate, he writes.
• Much of the movie "involves contentious meetings with potential funders amid the political machinations of biotech firms," writes Claudia Puig at USA Today. "Yes, that's as exciting as it sounds."
• Dana Stevens at Slate quite liked it, but says doing so may mean you're ordinary: "susceptible to happy endings, moved by the notion of saving sick children, amused by Harrison Ford in his late-period 'Get off my lawn' mode.

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