# Medicine Man (1992)

### reviewed by
E. Benjamin Kelsey

    MEDICINE MAN
    (PG-13)

    Directed by John McTiernan
    Running Time: 109 minutes
    Originally Released: 1992

    Reviewed by E. Benjamin Kelsey

    * * (out of four)

Cancer. Rainforests. Woman's Lib. Wow! What a socially-aware movie all those elements would make, eh? Socially-aware? *Maybe* . . . but also boring.

MEDICINE MAN stars Sean Connery as Dr. Robert Campbell, a scientist who has spent quite a few years in the Amazon rainforest trying to re-discover a cure for cancer. That's right, he *did* discover a cure, but due to one lacking ingredient that he just can't place, he has been unable to duplicate his initial result. Enter Lorraine Braco as Dr. Rae Crane. Uh oh. A woman. Campbell sure wasn't expecting this, and naturally the two do anything but hit it off.

With a trivial amount of effort, the two make the best of things and set out to determine what's missing from Campbell's concoction. No, it's not Campbell's Cream of Cancer soup, but rather a remedy derived from a particular flower native to the region; a region which, by the obvious way, is being torn down minute by minute.

MEDICINE MAN is actually quite predictable and routine, leaving one bored and unimpressed. At best, you'll likely find this movie tolerable. There is no real tension, no real romance, and no real freshness to the film. The only thing it has going for it are some nice shots of the Amazon, but nothing at all besides that. Even Sean Connery is predominantly mundane!

It's Lorraine Braco's performance that stands out . . . in an all but positive way! Braco is downright awful as the whiny, always complaining, "independent" woman of the 90's. In fact, everyone in this film seems apt to arguing. Every conversation turns into a shouting match without warning. It's very hokey and very annoying. What is the purpose here? Oh, that's right . . . every good "love" story starts off with a seemingly hateful couple that will inevitably fall in love.

A social-issue cliche, MEDICINE MAN is much too much what we've already seen. When blasé performances are the *best* thing you can expect from a movie, you know it's a bad sign. Not completely unwatchable, it's still comparable to a glass of warm milk. Don't waste your time.

    December 7, 1997

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