This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2013.
On one level, Side Effects is a deliciously pulpy medical thriller, with the kind of zig-zagging twisty plot that you’d expect from a Michael Crichton novel. It’s more than satisfying on these terms, almost serving as a feature-length pilot for an imaginary medical drama starring Jude Law. After all, with House off the air, there’s a clear gap in the market for a smooth English actor playing the lead in an unconventional medical drama. If he is sarcastic, all the better. While the genius of the early years of House came from mashing up the medical subgenre with the police procedural to produce a then-unique hybrid, Scott Z. Burns instead blends the medical drama with a decidedly more trashy and sordid thriller to provide a satisfyingly twisty drama.
However, on another level, Side Effects teases issues that are far more interesting than the movie it eventually becomes. It’s very frustrating when your red herrings feel like they’d produce a more thoughtful or insightful piece of cinema than the final story. Side Effects broaches topics that mainstream cinema hasn’t really engaged with, and the opening scenes flirt with the idea of providing an entirely different film. It’s not always fair to judge a film for what it isn’t, but the problem is that Side Effects sets up a much more tempting and intriguing look at medicine than we get with the final product.
Love isn’t the only drug…
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: art, banks, Clinical trial, Emily Taylor, Film festival, films, house, jameson dublin international film festival, Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2013, Jonathan Banks, jude law, michael crichton, Movie, Movies, non-review review, review, Rooney Mara, Ryan Gosling, Scott Z. Burns, side effects, Steven Soderbergh, United States | 2 Comments »
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