GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

SnoopyStyle Dr. Werner Ernst (James Spader) is a resident working in the newest IC unit with nurse Stella (Helen Mirren). He's a skirt chaser and Felicia Potter (Kyra Sedgwick) catches his eye. She's visiting her sick father. She disagrees with her half-sister Connie Potter (Margo Martindale) who wants to keep him alive at all costs. Dr. Butz (Albert Brooks) is Ernst's grumpy absent-minded supervisor. A suffering patient (Jeffrey Wright) wants to die and a demonic doctor (Wallace Shawn) keeps appearing to him.This is a later work from director Sidney Lumet. There is an artificiality to the look probably due to the overwhelming white background. It drains the life out of the story. It feels more like a play in its unreality. I don't know how to take the artificial satire. Even Sedgwick's performance is super artificial which may be due to the character. Nothing feels real. It's not funny at all. It's not that poignant. It's not eye opening. The cast is amazing and Lumet must be a big part of the appeal for them. I want to like this more than I actually do.

theskulI42 Man, talk about a missed opportunity.This oddly obscure medical film from prolific and uneven legend Sidney Lumet attempts to bridge the gap between comedy and drama, and although occasionally in succeeds (mostly in the snarky repartee between doctor James Spader and nurse Helen Mirren), it mostly fails due to a lack of depth in its characterization, and everything is attempts to do, "Scrubs" has done better at least 10 times a year.It's basically the plot of the second half of "Million Dollar Baby", from the doctors' point of view, with all the random hospital jokes and long-winded speeches that come with that. Actually, considering Margo Martindale's presence at the vegetable's side, it feels more like that film that I was comfortable with, heh. But, being a James Spader movie, there has to be a random sex scene in the middle of it, and it got me out of that funk. It's not as kinky as I would have anticipated, although he does tape it. Actually, the cast is *shockingly* fabulous and makes me sad that they were wasted in such a middling film. In addition to Spader, we have Kyra Sedgwick (in a bizarrely-dressed performance), Helen Mirren, Anne Bancroft, Albert Brooks, Jeffrey Wright, Wallace Shawn, Colm Feore AND Edward Hermann. Really, you got THAT group together and made a lame, jokey hospital melodrama? Shame on you, Lumet.It moved quickly and rarely grew painfully tiresome, but as every joke felt flat and every emotional scene fizzled harmlessly, it just made me nostalgic for the time two hours earlier when I was watching "Scrubs". Those were great times.{Grade: 5.5/10 (C+/C) / #55 (of 66) of 1997}

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.

Doctor_Bombay Sidney Lumet has made some wonderful, memorable, and important films. 12 Angry Men, Fail-Safe, Serpico, Network, and The Verdict among them--the list is long, and impressive.Unfortunately, his recent list is less than impressive: Night Falls on Manhattan and Gloria starring Sharon Stone immediately come to mind. Critical Care sits right there, underneath them.Talented actors like Philip Bosco, Edward Herrmann, and Helen Mirren can't save this confused Woody Allen meets 1984 attempt at…to tell you the truth I don't know what they were attempting.Yuck.