The
Medicine Show (2001)
At first, "The Medicine Show" is very edgy. It is
a black comedy about cancer, one of the last taboos
for comedy around. About the only thing more shocking
these days would be a comedy about pedophilia. "The
Medicine show" features a cartoon writer, with a very
wry sense of humor, getting colon cancer. How his co-workers
react, and how he reacts to their reaction is just the
beginning of the black humor to be found here.
Johnathan Silverman plays Taylor, the writer. Silverman
looks like he has aged 10 years in the past 4. His face
has gained a lot of weight. He is still cute, but his
face is rounder and he looks like his dental insurance
has lapsed. Silverman is funny, no doubt about it. And
his dry sense of the absurdism in modern health care
is a welcome respite from all the weepie Made-for-TV
films about cancer. Watching Silverman interact with
his Middle Eastern doctor and his omnipresent, humorless
Student doctor is sheer joy.
I had testicular cancer a few years ago (yep - lost
a nut) and I can tell you that the ordeal that Silverman's
Taylor goes through here is pretty well played out.
Somebody who has had cancer recently must have either
wrote or punched up the script because what Taylor goes
through is pretty typical and accurate from my experience.
I can tell you this though. My surgery was outpatient.
I didn't even spend a night in the hospital and they
took one of my balls! Taylor has a section of his colon
removed and is in the hospital for what seems like weeks.
Through all the pre-treatment, the time leading up
to the operation, the operation itself and a bit of
the days after, Taylor looks at all that goes on with
a humor that is biting and damn funny. But, alas, this
film can't help from getting bogged down in sentimentality
and becoming serious before ending. It's sad really,
because for the first 45-55 minutes, it's really amusing
and unique.
This isn't to say that the film takes a nose-dive.
The end of the film, the last half hour, finds Taylor
meeting a Lukemia patient by the name of Lynn, played
perfectly by Natasha Gregson Wagner. Lynn is funny and
quirky and likeable, the kinda character Annie Potts
used to play. When a romance evolves between the two,
it doesn't bother us. We like Lynn and the two make
a perfect match.
But Lynn is really sick and the film eventually evolves
into your general standard hospital romance thing. The
end of the film is rather abrupt and anticlimactic,
but it does serve the story well and it does make us
happy. It's just too bad that "The Medicine Show" couldn't
keep its dark humor going until the very end. Perhaps
we aren't ready for all the taboos to be broken just
yet when it comes to cancer.
Note: Written and Directed by Wendell Morris.
This Film Reviewed
from the 2001 Austin Film festival!
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Report
Card
Script:
B+
Acting: A
Cinematography\Lighting: C
Special Effects\Make Up: A+
Music: C
Final
Grade: B-
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