Page 18 THE VILLADOM TIMES II & IV • February 3, 2010 Seeking a disease’s cure when time matters by Dennis Seuling Movies about sick children can either melt hearts or turn off viewers with sentimentality. “Extraordinary Mea- State Line 375 State Highway 17 North, Mahwah Open 24 Hours, 7 Days Join Us For Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner The Best Got Better! Diner - Restaurant 201-529-3353 Now Serving Cocktails, Espresso & Cappuccino $ 00 On $10.00 and over. With this coupon only. One Coupon per table. 5:00 to 9:00 pm only. Off 1 $ 00 VT On $20.00 and over. With this coupon only. One Coupon per table. 5:00 to 9:00 pm only. Off 2 Dr. Stonehill (Harrison Ford, left) and John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) form an unlikely partnership in ‘Extraordinary Measures.’ VT sures” lies somewhere between these two extremes. It is a well-made, though not extraordinary, film about the shaky relationship between two men who partner up to discover a treatment for Pompe disease, a form of muscular dystrophy that usually kills its victims before the age of nine. John Crowley (Brendan Fraser), a Bristol-Myers executive, has two children suffering from Pompe disease. The elder is eight, and the statistics indicate she is already on borrowed time. Her brother is six. Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford) is an amalgam of all the eccentric cinematic geniuses seen before. He is brilliant, bad at interpersonal relationships, opinionated, tact- less, and prone to playing loud rock music to blot out the real world. He is underfunded at a Nebraska university to find a cure for the illness that is killing Crowley’s children. Though the film is based on true incidents, liberties have been taken with Dr. Stonehill. The treatment he is seeking was actually the work of several doctors at Duke University. Consolidating the many into one makes the movie play more interestingly and establishes the relationship between Crowley and Stonehill, a symbiotic one that requires each man to compromise. “Extraordinary Measures,” despite the presence of two Hollywood stars, has a decidedly TV-movie look, both in its simple narrative structure and reliance on stereotypes to give dimension to Crowley and Stonehill. Fraser’s Crowley comes off better, since he is obviously motivated to save his children’s lives. He knows he has to look for results not in terms of years, but months or even weeks. Stonehill lets Crowley take care of the business end of things, content to run his lab in tyrannical fashion, alienating most of his colleagues in the process. Director Tom Vaughan manages to hold viewers’ attention as he chronicles the politics of discovering a treatment and bringing it to market. Profitability concerns, constant testing, competing research, and marketing are all addressed, making clear how complicated and slow the pharmaceutical industry is in getting specialized drugs out to those who desperately need them. The face of Pompe disease is Crowley’s daughter, Megan (Meredith Droeger), a sharp kid with a great sense of humor who, though confined to a wheelchair with assorted tubes connected to her, manages to play tag with her brother, bowl, and enjoy family outings, though these activities (continued on Crossword page) �������� ������� ��������� �������� ��������������������������������������������� Valentine’s Day Join us on ���������� ���������� Full Regular Menu Available Call for Reservations �������� ������ �������������� ���������� V alentine Specials SUNDAY FEBRUARY 7 , 6-9 PM FREE BUFFET ������������������������������������������������ Superbowl Party �������������������� HAPPY HOUR ������������������ �������������� ��������� ������� ������������������ ������������������� �������������� � �� �������������������������������������������������������������������� 1-20-10