EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES

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"Extraordinary Measures" is like corporate rock but worse. It's a Big Pharma propaganda piece committed with a bloated musical score that blows out the depressingly formulaic patchwork on hand.

The true-life narrative is constructed around Oregonian family man John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) who, with his wife Aileen (Keri Russell), have three children, two of whom are stricken with Pompe disease.

The rare condition means that John's children will probably not live past nine or ten unless a treatment is found, developed, and made ready in the next year or so.

John finds Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford), a maverick scientist doing pioneering work on treating Pompe at the University of Nebraska.

Brendan Fraser gives a technically mannered performance that stands up to scrutiny.

But Harrison Ford plays Dr. Stonehill with an artificial anger that boarders on camp.

Together, the not-quite-compatible Stonehill and John attract investors to start their own lab where Dr. Stonehill can work with a team of dedicated interns to test and perfect a drug capable of treating Pompe.

Blaring orchestral chords pound over director Tom Vaughan's visually glossy and emotionally syrupy commercial for the drug industry.

The realism on display is about as far from naturalistic as you can get. There's something very ugly here.

Rated PG. 115 mins.