Critical Care

REVIEW
The Clintons may not have pushed through their health care package during their first term, but the subject of health care, insurance companies and modern medicine is certainly alive and kicking in 1997, first with The Rainmaker, and now with Lumet's consistently entertaining satire. Spader plays a callous, burned-out doctor at a major hospital who gets caught between two sisters fighting over their comatose father. One, a spacey holy roller, wants him kept alive; the other, a manipulative fashion model, wants to pull the plug. Several subplots wind their way through the central story, making some caustic observations on the business of saving lives. Though Critical Care doesn't pull its punches, it could have been tougher and even more vicious (it doesn't go as far for the jugular as, say, Wag the Dog). The film has an otherworldly story line involving the afterlife which completely misfires, and the ending may be too pat, but there are a great many delicious moments to savor.