Desperate Measures Review

by Jon Popick (jpopick AT sick-boy DOT com)
October 10th, 1999
PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com

This film would have been a lot better if it was made for TV. It had that kind of feel to it. The formula is: a small sick child, a single parent who would go to any extreme to save their stupid kid, and the bad guy. The only thing that breaks the formula is that Meredith Baxter-Birney does not play the parent.

Peter McCabe (Garcia) is the Desperate single parent who must find a bone marrow transplant to save the life of his son before he dies. He breaks into the FBI computer to run through a list of potential matches and finds one in the deranged killer, Frank Connor (Keaton). Connor, while initially slow to accept the offer of sharing his bone marrow, eventually agrees in exchange for restored smoking privileges, library access, an extra sugar for his coffee and reassignment to the general prison population. Little do they all know, he actually plans to escape before the operation even takes place!

Could this surprise anyone watching? The characters are completely stunned. And to make matters worse, they can’t kill Connor because the kid will die without him. What a dilemma.

What ensues is a cross between Extreme Measures and an episode of Chicago Hope. That’s right, boring trifling cliched cardboard shit. Barbet Schroeder, who hasn’t made a decent film since I was legally able to drink (Reversal of Fortune), does nothing original in his direction. The opening credits and the poster are both better than the final product that you see on the screen.

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