{"id":5892,"date":"2024-10-14T23:32:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T03:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=5892"},"modified":"2024-10-14T23:33:03","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T03:33:03","slug":"critical-condition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/14\/critical-condition\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical Condition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Critical Condition <\/strong>(1987)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 97 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, sexual references, crude humor, some violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Michael Apted\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Dennis Hamill and John Hamill\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Alan Silvestri\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ralf D. Bode\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 16, 1987 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Richard Pryor, Rachel Ticotin, Ruben Blades, Joe Mantegna, Bob Dishy, Sylvia Miles, Joe Dallesandro, Randall \u201cTex\u201d Cobb, Bob Saget, Joseph Ragno, Jon Polito, Garrett Morris, Brian Tarantina, Jude Ciccolella, Cigdem Onat, Lucius Houghton.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $20.2M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Traditionally, January is one of the dump months for major studios looking to unload titles they know don\u2019t stand a chance against real competition. It\u2019s an especially bad month for comedies. For the most part, funny movies released during the first month of the year aren\u2019t funny. Take a gander at some of the duds that landed in theaters in Januarys past: The Lonely Guy, Head Office, The Couch Trip, Downtown, Kuffs, Hexed, Cabin Boy, Houseguest, Bio-Dome, Two If by Sea, Fierce Creatures, Double Take and A Guy Thing. Not all of these are awful; I\u2019ll cop to liking Downtown, Hexed and Bio-Dome (don\u2019t judge!). I also like the Richard Pryor comedy Critical Condition<\/strong>, a rocky but amusing chuck-fest directed by Michael Apted (Coal Miner\u2019s Daughter).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Pryor stars as Kevin Lenahan, a con man in deep you-know-what with a loan shark (Ragno, Fighting Back) after he\u2019s tricked into wearing a wire while they talk business of the illegal kind. They all get busted and Kevin is looking at a year in prison at the very least. Facing the additional threat of retaliation by the loan shark and his guys, Kevin feigns a mental breakdown in the courtroom in hopes it will secure him an insanity defense so he doesn\u2019t have to go to jail. He\u2019s sent to a psychiatric ward for evaluation, but the head psychiatrist sees right through his ruse. He\u2019s to be transferred to prison to begin serving his sentence.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It happens on the same night a major storm causes a power outage at the hospital. In the ensuing confusion, he manages to escape from the ward. He initially plans to split the scene, but gets sidetracked when rookie hospital administrator Rachel Atwood (Ticotin, Total Recall) mistakes him for a visiting ER doctor, Eddie Slattery. Upon realizing there\u2019s no escaping during the storm, Kevin steps up and takes charge of the chaos.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s a lot to deal with. A maintenance worker (Tarantina, Summer of Sam) has fallen off the roof and needs a delicate surgical procedure or else he will be paralyzed. A brutal killer (Dallesandro, Andy Warhol\u2019s Frankenstein), supposedly injured after being attacked by other inmates, escapes from police custody and is on the loose in the hospital. Arrogant surgeon Dr. Foster (Dishy, Brighton Beach Memoirs) refuses to lift a finger out of fear of a malpractice suit. Meanwhile, Rachel\u2019s boss Chambers (Mantegna, House of Games), an obstinate, money-minded jerk, is being held hostage in the psychiatry ward by patients until he meets their demands- i.e. less restrictive rules, nurses with bigger boobs, etc.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Kevin\/Slattery gets the addicts in the detox ward to help out with tasks like moving a working generator into the hospital and bailing out the flooded basement. In one of funniest bits, he flies a helicopter in the foyer with the help of one of the addicts (SNL vet Morris), a Vietnam vet who has a flashback while talking him through the process of landing it. These are but a few crises that arise over the course of Critical Condition<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In general, it\u2019s a funny movie albeit an uneven one. It has a few tonal issues. Apted barely manages to juggle the hilarity and the seriousness. Maybe it\u2019s just me, but an old lady\u2019s rectal exam isn\u2019t a comfortable fit with a violent killer looking for a way off the island. Add to that the young man facing paralysis unless he receives an operation under non-ideal circumstances. It\u2019s a bumpy ride to say the least.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For the most part, Critical Condition<\/strong> is enjoyable. Pryor isn\u2019t in top form; he looks gaunt and tired. It\u2019s not the same Pryor we saw in Silver Streak and Stir Crazy. However, it’s one of the better movies he made before going into semi-retirement due to poor health. Apted (Gorky Park, Nell) makes pretty good use of his cast. Ticotin does a fine job; she has good chemistry with Pryor and everybody else. Dishy is in top form as a doctor who needs a doctor to deal with his neurosis. Sylvia Miles (The Funhouse) is good as the tough, outspoken head nurse. Randall \u201cTex\u201d Cobb (Raising Arizona) is great as a mental patient who thinks he’s a black man. Pre-Full House Bob Saget shows early promise as a first-year resident who gets stuck with all the dirty jobs. BTW, it\u2019s weird hearing devoted dad Danny Tanner drop an f-bomb. Also, keep your eyes open for future star Wesley Snipes as an ambulance driver.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s far from perfect or hilarious, but I always manage to get a few laughs from Critical Condition<\/strong>. Also, I have a thing for January comedies. They\u2019re something of a guilty pleasure for me much in the same way as movies released in late August. I know, I\u2019m strange, but I never claimed to be a normal film critic. I freely admit to liking junk movies like Critical Condition<\/strong>. If that\u2019s a crime, lock me up now.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Critical Condition (1987)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 97 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, sexual references, crude humor, some violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Michael Apted\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Dennis Hamill and John Hamill\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Alan Silvestri\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ralf D. Bode\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 16, 1987 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Richard Pryor, Rachel Ticotin, Ruben Blades, Joe Mantegna, Bob Dishy, Sylvia Miles, Joe Dallesandro, Randall \u201cTex\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-guilty-pleasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Critical-Condition-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5892"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6108,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5892\/revisions\/6108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}