Best movie of this year hands down!

Perfectly adorable

A lot of fun.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Pat Travis (Troy Evans) is a military veteran with hopeful expectations as he seeks a triple bypass at a VA hospital. Instead, he finds a chaotic labyrinth of bureaucratic obstacles. Luther Jermoe (Keith David) is a wheelchair-bound veteran experienced in the dysfunction. He tells Pat that there is always Article 99. It's Dr. Peter Morgan (Kiefer Sutherland)'s first day. Dr. Rudy Bobrick (John C. McGinley) takes him under his wing, skirting the bureaucracy to get things done. Dr. Richard Sturgess (Ray Liotta) and Dr. Sid Handleman (Forest Whitaker) are fellow surgeons doing unapproved operations. Director Dr. Henry Dreyfoos (John Mahoney) and Chief of Medicine Dr. Leo Krutz (Jeffrey Tambor) work to maintaining the declining budget by weeding out the patients. Dr. Robin Van Dorn (Lea Thompson) sees Morgan as dilettante aiming for a high priced practice. Psychotherapist Dr. Diana Walton (Kathy Baker) clashes with Sturgess over his methods. Sam Abrams (Eli Wallach) is a gomer.Director Howard Deutch tried to portray the chaos of the VA. He certainly threw everything including the kitchen sink into this movie and it feels overloaded. There are great actors but again, there are too many and it feels overloaded. There seems to be a great movie here somewhere but the chaos does overwhelm it. It needs gritty realism but it feels a little too sitcomy.

We were out with new colleagues looking for a movie to go to after dinner. Our search took us from Wisconsin into Illinois, where "Article 99" appeared to be the most promising offering in a mall multiplex in the Waukegan area. The film was stunningly unmoving, unaffecting, unmemorable--the night such a complete waste that I simply had to bring back the title to confirm a long repressed memory (it was only the recollection of Kiefer Sutherland's credit that produced the title).There are a lot of possibilities with a film like this, which apparently attempts to be "socially relevant" humor or, as other reviewers have put it, a film with an important message. I don't buy the notion that great art--Shakespeare's plays or Faulkner's fiction--succeeds because of any "message," and the same pretty much goes for mere "entertainment." But whether realizing Welles' description of film as a "ribbon of dreams" or Godard's as "truth 24 frames per second," a film can make us participants in its storyline, situations, and conflicts while fulfilling the most important goal of art--i.e. to present an imitation of life that reveals us to ourselves-- and even imparting a sort of "message" (though I prefer Joycean "epiphany"), but we hear too many messages. The purpose of art is to make them unnecessary by giving us the "knowledge" to see for, and about, ourselves. "Article 99" succeeded in none of the foregoing areas. A film with as noteworthy a similar precedent as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" simply left us numb, indifferent and apathetic, quickly flying out our memories.If a lesson is to be learned from viewing a movie such as this (and it's important to watch bad movies to know what a good movie is, or bad Altman films to know what a good Altman film is), it's that the setting matters little if the director's vision and approach or the screenplay's storyline doesn't "make" it matter. And in this film--apparently intent upon exposing the futility of practices occurring in a V.A. hospital--setting is everything. But the setting is cramped, collapsed, squeezed so tightly by an over-burdened script implemented by unimaginative, propaganda-grade direction that neither the audience nor the actors have any space to breathe in let alone become involved with the actions of the story.Contrast this over-controlled environment, this anal, sterile, feeble imitation of life in a V.A. hospital with Robert Altman's "controlled extemporaneousness," or imaginative vision, that gave us a completely open, vibrant and real, alternately funny, sad, and awe-inspiring, complex and unforgettable movie about a place that is also the title of the film--"Nashville." Not only are we taken on an unforgettable journey through a diverse city but we come to know and empathize with no fewer than 24 characters who are working out their destinies in the city that even now serves as a microcosm of American mass popular culture, representing all those seeking fame and fortune, celebrity and success. Ultimately, perhaps because in every viewer there's a hidden desire to be significant, to be "star" (if only in the eyes of his or her creator), we learn something about ourselves, emerging sadder but wiser for the experience. At such a moment, you also begin to see why some of us would rather read Shakespeare than Stephen King (or, after seeing "Nashville," have no patience with an Altman "dud" like "Ready to Wear," a satire of the fashion world that by the mere choice of subject is inextricably weighed down by the director's failure of vision).

There are many good things about this movie. There are a few that are not as "stellar" but no matter, when the subject is something as important as this, then that's what counts. (to those like user: Rick Peach that don't get it... read his reviews, and consider the source! This isn't an action movie!)This is a movie about how shamefully the Veterans of our Armed Services are treated when it comes to medical care. The term Article 99 refers to when a serviceman/woman is told the care or operation they need will not be considered because it isn't a direct result of anything that occurred while actively serving. In a world where many countries have socialized health care for everyone- you would think here where capitalism rules the day, we could at LEAST take care of the people who have guaranteed our freedom and survival. And that is the message of this movie.The way the message is conveyed is what we discuss movies for. The script can be at times overboard and some of Luther's (Keith David) pet phrases are trite, but he is the "been there, done that" man of the movie. He's seen it all and like a mascot of sorts, he seems to hang around the hospital ready to assist new patients who are lost in this bungling bureaucratic maze. Enter Travis (Troy Evans) a nice guy who just happens to need a triple bypass. When one of the men who is "Article 99'd" goes berserk and drives a pick up into the hospital, we see the main characters start to assert their personalities and their places in the hospital. Travis has a heart attack on the spot and it all unfolds from there.Dr. Sturgess (Ray Liotta) is the voice of reason in this very illogical world. He is the head of a group of doctors (Forest Whitaker, Lea Thompson, John McGinley) who are there not for the money, but for "those who have borne the battle." They are joined by a well meaning Dr. Walton (Kathy Baker) a psychiatrist who chose to come to this place from a drug rehab clinic. Although inexperienced in the ways of this "jungle" she has her heart in the right place. The evil nemesis in all this is played by the administrator, Dr. Henry Dreyfoos (John Mahoney) who is more interested in counting q-tips than helping to ease the suffering and pain of the people for whom this place was built. His doctors have had to resort to stealing medical equipment and supplies from the departments experimenting on animals. Apparently a monkey can get a pacemaker, but not a Vet.Some of the conditions in this hospital are deplorably shocking and terrible. There are the sick and dying and the forgotten. Also, there is the poignant relationship between the new intern, Dr. Morgan (Kiefer Sutherland) and his patient, Sam Abrams (Eli Wallach) as Dr. Morgan slowly realizes how special EACH of these people are. There is a story, a life and a sacrifice behind each bed pan, each IV, each tired old Vet.Some of this movie is melodramatic and it may go to some extremes to make its point, but it is worth the watch. The performances by ALL are very good and it's a cast that's to die for. Even the smaller roles (Jeffery Tambor, Lynne Thigpen, Julie Bovasso) are so well cast. If for no other reason, watch it today and remember those who have given the "full measure of devotion" for us all.

This is clearly a film that has it's heart on it's sleeve and wants usto get outraged about the injustice and 'red tape' that is holding upour VA system. Made before the glut of hospital shows such as ER orChicago Hope, it features many of the same ideas and stories, but shotin a better way. The camera work is fine in this film, much better thaneither of those tv shows. The acting is too, for the most part. I feltthe film was stolen by the great Eli Wallach, who walks away with everyscene he's in. I ended up feeling sorry for Kiefer Sutherland who had toshare the screen with Wallach- it was like watching a kid playbasketball with Michael Jordan. Ray Liotta does a fine intense job, andthe supporting roles are all wonderful. The great Kathy Baker is all butwasted, but does a great job. Lynn Thigpen has a small role, but doesit with her usual dignity and grace. Kieth David, John Mahoney andJeffrey Tambor all bless us with their talents, and I ended up wishingthe movie focused more on them than on the 'pretty young things'. Ifanything does not work with this film I'd have to say it was thedirecting or the editing- for some reason it doesn't come together in asatisfying way, despite some fine performances. Also, I'd just recentlyseen M*A*S*H*, which sets the bar pretty high for this kind of movie.And not to compare apples and oranges, but if you're looking for a'things are screwy in the medical profession' film, M*A*S*H* would bethe best way to go.