Film
Extraordinary Measures
Extraordinary Measures is a true-story drama about a father who abandons his corporate career to work with a rogue scientist, racing to develop a cure for his children's rare genetic disease. It's earnest and propulsive, built on the emotional stakes of parental desperation and the friction between a businessman and a brilliant misfit. For anyone drawn to stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things under impossible pressure.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like grounded drama about a parent who turns frustration into action, with rigorous science and a gruff odd-couple partnership driving it.
Skip it if you want a lean, emotional tearjerker; it runs at a steady, talky pace, with long stretches of boardroom meetings and lab arithmetic that some will find slow.
What it asks of you: Settle in for just under two hours of patient, dialogue-heavy scenes; the emotion is earned slowly rather than delivered in big set pieces.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
The Pursuit of Happyness2006
A father sacrifices everything for his children's future, navigating systems stacked against him with determination and occasional humiliation. Will Smith's performance anchors a story about resilience that never feels cheap.
But It relies heavily on sentiment, and the uplifting arc can feel calculated if you're resistant to inspirational beats.

Dark Waters2019
Mark Ruffalo as an idealistic lawyer takes on a chemical corporation, teaming with unexpected allies to expose corporate negligence. It has the same underdog-versus-system energy and real-world stakes.
But It's methodical and sometimes feels like a procedural. The pacing demands patience over momentum.

The Theory of Everything2014
Eddie Redmayne portrays Stephen Hawking across decades as motor neurone disease progresses. It's a portrait of genius persisting against biological collapse, with emotional depth that avoids sentimentality.
But The film softens some difficult truths about Hawking's personal life, and can feel overly polished for its subject matter.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Extraordinary Measures
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Midnight Sky2020
Both pit individual will against biological inevitability. One uses that tension for tender human drama, the other for cosmic isolation and dread.
George Clooney as a dying scientist working alone to prevent catastrophe, racing against his own body's countdown. It's sci-fi rather than medical drama, but it captures the same fever-dream intensity of a solitary figure trying to alter an outcome before time runs out.
But It's slow and meditative. The sci-fi plot becomes secondary to atmosphere, which some find underdeveloped. Visually gorgeous but emotionally distant.

More like this (7)
Patch Adams1998
Robin Williams as a medical student who challenges the system and champions human compassion in healthcare. It shares the idealism and the belief that one person can reshape an institution.
But It's sincere to the point of heavy-handedness, and the schmaltz can feel overwhelming if you're not in the mood.

Lorenzo's Oil1992
Parents of a boy with a rare degenerative disease educate themselves to become his researchers, battling medical establishment skepticism. This is the closest spiritual cousin—same disease category, same parental desperation driving scientific breakthrough.
But It's from 1992, so the filmmaking feels dated. The pacing is uneven and some scenes drag.

A Beautiful Mind2001
Russell Crowe as mathematician John Nash pursues groundbreaking work while battling mental illness. It explores the toll of obsession and the people who stand by the obsessed.
But The film takes considerable liberties with Nash's life, and some find the portrayal of his wife reductive.

My Sister's Keeper2009
A family navigates terminal illness, medical decisions, and the ethics of sacrifice. It grapples with how disease reshapes family dynamics and forces impossible moral choices.
But It's manipulative in its emotional appeals, and the ending upends the source material in ways many find unearned.

The Fundamentals of Caring2016
Paul Rudd as a caregiver for a teenager with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It's tender and funny, about finding humanity in crisis without making crisis heroic.
But The tone is uneven—it shifts between quirky comedy and serious illness sometimes jarring. Some find it tries too hard to be endearing.

Contagion2011
Steven Soderbergh's ensemble medical thriller about a disease outbreak and the race for a vaccine. It's procedural and urgent, exploring science under pressure.
But It's deliberately cold and detached from individual emotion. If you want human connection, it keeps you at clinical distance.

Unbreakable2000
Both explore how catastrophe—illness, injury—can become the catalyst for a life that matters. Same spiritual reckoning, wildly different genre surfaces.
M. Night Shyamalan's film about a man discovering he's superhuman after a train crash. It sounds like comic-book nonsense, but it's genuinely about a father finding purpose and identity through a gift he never asked for. The relationship between the two men is quiet and mythic, not flashy.
But It moves at a glacial pace. The twist is divisive—some find it brilliant, others feel cheated. It's not about action, so anyone expecting a superhero film will be frustrated.

People
Cast
Brendan FraserJohn Crowley
Harrison FordDr. Robert Stonehill
Keri RussellAileen Crowley
Courtney B. VanceMarcus Temple
Meredith DroegerMegan Crowley
Diego VelazquezPatrick Crowley
Jared HarrisDocteur Kent Webber
Patrick BauchauCEO Erich Loring
Alan RuckPete Sutphen
David ClennonDr. Renzler
Dee WallaceSal
Ayanna BerkshireWendy Temple
Directing
- Tom VaughanDirector
- Lisa C. SatrianoFirst Assistant Director
- Cate HardmanScript Supervisor
- Lyda BlankSecond Assistant Director
- Keith JonesSecond Second Assistant Director
Writing
- Geeta AnandBook
- Robert Nelson JacobsWriter
Production
- Jordana Glick-FranzheimAssociate Producer
- Josh RothsteinAssociate Producer
- Karen WillamanAssociate Producer
- Margery SimkinCasting
- Amey RenéCasting Assistant
- Justine HempeCasting Associate
- David Scott RubinExecutive In Charge Of Production
- Harrison FordExecutive Producer
- Nan MoralesExecutive Producer
- Molly AllenLocation Manager
- Carla Santos ShambergProducer
- Michael ShambergProducer
- Stacey SherProducer
- Ted GidlowUnit Production Manager