Extraordinary Measures

Harrison Ford has been in his share of bad movies, but this one—based on a true story—may be his worst. Ford plays a crotchety scientist who likes to listen to classic rock while synthesizing enzymes as he works on a potential treatment for a muscle-deterioration illness called Pompe disease. Brendan Fraser plays a man who leaves his job to help find a cure for Pompe, which has stricken two of his children. The two actors have some face-offs—some very melodramatic, some unintentionally funny—as they try to find a useful medicine. While the story sounds moving, Ford and Fraser make it tedious, as does the normally reliable Keri Russell. This is Ford in full scowl-and-shout mode, and Fraser looks lost. It’s a shame to see Ford wallow in something like this. It’s even more of a shame that he produced it.