Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Amy Adler Werner (James Spader) is a resident at a large city hospital. He's just learning about the politics behind the supposed goal of saving lives, something his colleague, Stella (Helen Mirren) is already savvy on. This is especially true when Werner meets a beautiful young model (Kyra Sedgwick) whose father is a comatose patient at the hospital. It is the model's opinion that her father should be taken off life support; her sister insists that the father communicates with her (by squeezing her hand) and that he can recover. Although the model seems sincere in her concern for her father's state, it turns out that she will inherit a large sum of money upon his death. Which way will the winds blow through the halls of the hospital? This is an awful movie, just awful. For those attracted to the smiling Spader and Sedgwick on the video's cover, get over it. Although the actors are not the film's weakest point, they do an I'm-working-for-a-paycheck job at best. (How they convinced Mirren to join the film, I'll never know). And, there is absolutely no comedy in the film at all, just one depressing scene after another. Lumet, despite his reputation, is to be faulted mightily for the poor direction, and the script is beyond abysmal. Do not waste your time with this movie, unless you just want to see what a film "bomb" really is. It is a failure, and not even an interesting one, at that.

blindbiz This film should be required viewing for all physicians, insurance execs and lawyers. The story is a dark comedy which looks at the twisted mess that is our modern healthcare system. James Spader is perfect as a cynical medical resident who learns the hard way about the realities of dealing with a patient's family, lawyers and the insurance games played by hospital administrators. As a family practice physician I can say that the plot of this film rings true on many levels....the stress of being a resident, the battle between family members, insurance companies and hospital administrators and the conflicting expectations of all involved. A favorite of the Sundance Channel and with good reason. A great flick...

Arthur Hausner This film takes its place beside many comedy/dramas touching on the inadequacies of the medical profession, such as Otto Preminger's "Such Good Friends (1971)" and Arthur Hiller's "The Hospital (1971)." Though the comedy here is not as "black" as those films, which concentrated more on the incompetencies of some doctors and nurses, "Critical Care" finds its humor in the insurance-driven medical profession today. Albert Brooks is absolutely wonderful as the epitome of a doctor caring only about the bottom line. His only concern is whether or not a prospective patient has medical insurance, and his decision to keep a comatose patient with no chance of recovery alive is based solely on the fact that the insurance company pays $9,500 per week ("cold cash") if he's alive, and zilch if he dies. Conversely, an emergency patient has very little priority if he has no medical insurance. The reason to see the film is Albert Brooks, in a much different role than he usually plays.The setup is a bit contrived, but is easily forgiven. I also enjoyed the brief roles of Wallace Shawn as the devil (called "furnaceman" in the credits) and Anne Bancroft as sort of an angel in a nun's habit.

Ken-208 Movie tries to be funny but fails in its attempt. Also, the movie has such a simplistic ending. Basically 2 sisters are fighting over their dad who is on his death bead. One sister wants the dad to be taken off life support soon so that he will die and she can collect all of his money. The other sister will receive all the money if the dad lives long enough. The hospital want's to keep him alive until his insurance runs out. The sister who wants the dad to die, seduced a doctor and is blackmailing him with a video tape and threatens to turn the video over to the hospital if he doesn't cause her dad to die.The solution the doctor proposes is the solution most normal people would think of with only a few seconds of thought needed. And the way the doctor forces the solution and wraps up the whole film in a couple of minutes is just too simplistic. It was a dumb movie and an even worse ending. 3 stars out of 10.