Gross Anatomy (1989)

This film is about a medical school student who does not seem to care about his studies, contrary to his fellow classmates who take their studies very seriously.The main character, Joe, is charming but carefree. He does not seem to possess the typical attitude for medical school, and is contented to be an average guy. Yet he outperforms expectations even when he is not trying. He is the kind of person that you form a love-hate relationship with. I would not want him to be my doctor, but as a friend it should be OK. The emotional subplot involving Joe and the teacher is moving, and it inspires both Joe and the viewers. Hopefully, the event inspires Joe to be more than a good doctor in the future. Maybe a scene or some texts at the end of the film about this would be good, in order to bring some closure to the emotional elements of the film. "Gross Anatomy" is a comedy with a message. Though it is slow at times, it is enjoyable to watch.

"Gross Anatomy" is a romantic comedy and med school student learns about life and himself character study, nicely rolled into a drama. I first saw it as a young teen in the early 90s, and it stuck with me as a dramatic romantic comedy but more so as a med school examination that really spoke to me.Almost twenty years later, I am much more film literate, and while I still like it, I can see it's not as good as it could have been, or as I remember it. It's really not much of a character study, as Matthew Modine's Joe is your typical smart slacker who gets by on his looks, charm and natural intelligence - which is almost enough for med school. I wish they showed me more of his struggles in school and less of his romantic efforts to win over Laurie (Daphne Zuniga). The romantic comedy angle is so formulaic and predictable, that the comedy fell flat. On the other hand, the interpretation of med school seemed more realistic and not as enticing as most shows and movies make it out to be."Gross Anatomy" is probably more intriguing to a younger audience, with its immature characters and predictable romance. But these characters are appealing, especially Modine as we follow him on his journey through first year med school. I was not as emotionally invested as I first was years ago, but I still enjoyed this as a cute film.

I was studying medicine in France when I saw this movie and was very disappointed. The characters were one-dimensioned and therefore, I couldn't feel sympathy for any one of them. Plus, many scenes were hard to swallow. Exhibit 1: One of the characters take too much amphetamine, so he collapses during an anatomy class then ... gets well a few minutes after !? Come on! I've seen people that took too much amphetamine, they were hospitalized for weeks, even months, and that wasn't a pretty sight. Exhibit 2: First years students are able to help a woman give birth in a coffee shop (I'm not sure it was a coffee shop, it's been a long time since I saw this movie). Exhibit 3: The main character who hadn't studied much for all the year win his final exam (If memory serves, he even get a better mark than his friends), although he could not sleep the night before (he almost arrives ate) and learned about one of his teachers' death when he entered the exam room, two factors that could prevent anyone to be in the good state of mind for winning an exam. This movie was a huge disappointment and I didn't like it at all.

Not a great film, I suppose, but "Gross Anatomy" has enough that's entertaining, engaging and memorable about it to recommend the film to fans of character drama. "ER" and "Chicago Hope" may well have set the standard for medical dramas, but this look at some first-year med students and their quest to achieve the impossible (become a practicing surgeon or specialist) has long since been forgotten in the trash-bin of seemingly negatable Disney flicks. Released at the turn of the 80's, when Disney was rampantly putting out what seemed like a movie a week, it features a sterling performance by the eternally underrated Matthew Modine as Joe Slovak, an endlessly appealing character despite his tendency to annoy everyone else in the film. Slovak is a wonderful creation on the part of the writers, first seen in a highly memorable pre-credits sequence in which each of the post-grad medical schools asks him questions that eventually reveal the 'real Joe'. Or at least the Joe Slovak he wishes to project. Christine Lahti, who would of course go on to fame and acclaim in "Chicago Hope", practiced her medical chops here as a sickly professor bent on pressuring her students to achieve perfection, even if they themselves aren't often willing to reach for it. The rest of the cast (Daphne Zuniga and the always-great Todd Fields) have done work elsewhere that's gotten more attention, but it's doubtful they've ever been as effective as they are here. By no means is this a classic, but a sharply-observed film that despite a layer of Disney-esque schmaltz manages to touch, entertain and invigorate.