John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) has a wonderful career, a beautiful wife (Keri Russell) and three kids. Unfortunately, two of his kids have Pompe Disease. This is a genetic disorder and the patients have an average life expectancy of 9 years. With his sick son at 6 and daughter at 8, John is spending his nights researching. His findings point him towards Professor Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford) who might have found a way to prevent dying from the disease. So he tracks Robert all the way to Nebraska.
Robert is a rocknroll-loving, eccentric man who loves to work by himself. He says that he needs $500,000, if he would ever have a shot at proving his method works and that it could be turned into proper medication. When Robert manages to scrape half of the money, Robert makes a business proposal. They should work together – John at the business end and Robert at the science. After all, what better way to concentrate all their efforts and speed up the process?
While it does make sense in a crazy way, John’s dilemma is huge. He has a really well-paying job that provides insurance. How is he going to take care of his family if their project failed? On the other hand, all the insurance in the world won’t matter- both his sick children have very little left and the current state of medicine can’t provide them any hope. Then there is another big issue. If John devotes all his time to building a business with Robert in Nebraska, then he will have lost from the what little time he has left with his children…
The story concentrates on the efforts of John and his relationship with both his family and Robert. As he embarks on a risky journey with him, he will have to fight against the profit-mindedness of the corporate world, Robert’s poor interpersonal relations and time….
This is a terrific movie. It is a very emotional journey, based on true events. With great story-telling and more than adequate acting, you keep your fingers crossed for the Crowley family through the entire movie. You curse at corporations, feel the pain and wish the disease never expected. You want to throw a couple of punches here and there, especially at the investors and managers.
Yes, I got carried away and loved the movie. How could I not? As you can imagine, this movie is not for entertainment. While it is humane and heart-felt and interesting, it is also intense and the race against time is nothing like the ones in action films. I am actually quite taken aback by the 6.3 rating on IMDB. Seriously? You know, John Crowley is told very often in the movie that he needs to be objective- that emotions and personal issues get in the way of medical research. But who can be more motivated than a father who’s desperately trying to save his children? What I am trying to say is that the rating does remind me of the apathy of the people John kept fighting against. No, I can’t be that objective with a story like this. A heart-felt 9/10 from me. And it is exteremely recommended for all fans of Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell.
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