Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 26, 1990 TAG: 9005260367
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LOU CEDRONE THE BALTIMORE EVENING SUN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Vital Signs" takes place at Los Angeles Central Medical School where Jimmy Smits, of television's "L.A. Law," is Dr. David Redding, dean and chief of surgery. Redding is of the old school. He is tough, tries to be fair, but, at times, sounds like a corporate fool. "You went against protocol," he tells one of his charges. Of course, a life was saved, but that doesn't mean too much to the dean, who, at times, sounds as though he trained for his position in a Marine Corps boot camp. Some of the nurses sound as though they trained at the same place.
The script pays particular attention to five student doctors, two women and three men. Two of the men are in competition for the same internship. One is willing to do anything to get it. This same guy has a wife who is working in a restaurant while her husband plays doctor. They never see each other, so we know what is going to happen here.
Adrian Pasdar is the doctor-to-be who pursues another student, played by Diane Lane, who, when she officiates at the delivery of her first baby, looks at the others in wonder and says, "A baby!"
Birthing scenes have the same theatrical value as car-chase footage. If you've seen one, you've seen all, something director Marisa Silver seems to know because she is mercifully brief with it.
There is the usual tumbling, in beds and in the linen closet. In bed, it's Bobby (Tim Ransom) and Suzanne (Jane Adams) who share the same apartment with others, then make the mistake of getting too close.
In the linen closet, it is Michael (Pasdar) and Gina (Lane), who has had it with her surgeon boyfriend because the guy seems to have no feelings.
The director is so cautious you want to like her film as much as possible, say as many good things as possible about it. Well, it is a good film. Good enough, that is. If it hadn't been preceded by so many similar dramas, on television and the theatrical screen, it would seem much better than it is.
Laura San Giacomo, Norma Aleandro and William Devane are in the cast. San Giacomo is the waitress married to Kenny (Jack Gwaltney), Aleandro plays a patient who teaches her student doctor something about compassion, and Devane plays the father of Michael.
As usual, Giacomo brightens the screen whenever she appears.
`Vital Signs' Playing at the Salem Valley 8 Theaters (389-0444). Rated R.
by CNB