Country Remedy Movie Review

Pro: DVD case provided the name of the main character which I couldn’t recall.

Con: I didn’t care what his name was.

Synopsis:

A recently widowed big-city doctor must prove his “humanity” and suitability to become the youngest head of pediatrics at his hospital by moving to rural North Carolina and running a clinic over the summer. With his asthmatic son in tow, the exceptional physician moves into a rustic house and goes about the business of creating a medical practice with no budget, drunken contractors, suspicious townsfolk, and an attractive but hard-nosed mayor. Through the miracle of emergency situations Dr. Evan Gibbs learns the value of patience, perseverance, and family in this most uplifting yada yada yada…

My take:

When you are choosing a hemorrhoid cream, it’s always best to go with something established and time-tested lest you have a unexpected allergic reaction where you don’t want strangers poking around. In the same vein, “Country Remedy” is a pain in the butt.

No, that’s not right, I really meant “Country Remedy” was a very familiar story that will never have you mistaking Tabasco sauce for Tuck’s Medicated wipes. The plot, characters, and dramatic elements have all been seen before so many times that in fact you may wish for the excitement presented in the above mentioned scenario. Where other films try to grab the audience with such innovations as “creative storytelling” and “grippingly original characters”, “Country Remedy” makes due with day-old corned-beef hash reheated to a sloppy perfection. I’m not going to say that the movie was bad, but it simply wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen before done better in many other movies.

An example: Just after the good doc is informed that he may return early to accept his promotion his son gets lost in the woods without an inhaler. Panic ensues, but the entire town shows up to look for the idiot child and eventually he is rescued. Guess what happens next? If you’ve seen more than three movies in your lifetime, you would know that the outpouring of affection for the newcomers by the town convinces our hero to stay. Would it have killed the makers of the movie to have him thank the town and move anyway instead offering to buy them shoes (which few of them seemed to posses)?

No, the doctor is attracted to the mayor, the kids do dumb things, the people are poor and pay for medical services with locally grown crops, and the doctor wins them all over by, what else, saving the lives of seemingly half the population within the space of a few weeks. Makes you wonder what they did before the Surgeon General arrived.

A Conservative View:

What I did like about this movie was that no one died, no one was really cruel, vile, or purposefully evil, and the doctor did NOT have a romance with the mayoral hottie despite all the story elements that would normally have thrown them together. Credit some courage on the part of the film makers for at least refusing to include one cliché. Also, since the movie showed small-town life as impoverished but still helpful and sane, Barrak Obama would hate the movie. That alone might make it worth a viewing.


Conclusion:

Family fare that won’t offend or unintentionally entertain. Watch it with younger children before bedtime so you can all get a much deserved night of rest.