After several years of trying, wavy-haired fisherman's son Matthew Modine (as Joseph "Joe" Slovak) is finally accepted at medical school. This is helped by his admission that he wants to be a doctor for the paycheck. Arriving at a school that looks very much like USC (aka The University of Southern California), Mr. Modine initially doesn't want to crack the books. He'd rather get into beautiful lab mate Daphne Zuniga (as Laurie Rorbach). Modine may also secretly desire professor Christine Lahti (as Rachel Woodruff), but not anal retentive roommate Todd Field (as David Schreiner)...
The title is going to make many think this is gross-out movie, but this is really a romantic college comedy, with cadavers...
Modine's lead character is very smart, but obviously not ready to take the Hippocratic Oath. This is something Prof. Lahti notices when she asks him to diagnosis a terminal case. He gets it right, but is heartless. Maybe he's just reacting to her being a hard-nose, because we see Modine's humanity in the way he treats Mr. Field's character (hope he's okay). The film is off balance because we care more about what happens to roommate Field, squirrelly John Scott Clough (as Miles Reed) and ovulating Alice Carter (as Kim McCauley) than Modine or Ms. Zuniga, who are likable but bland.
****** Gross Anatomy (10/20/89) Thom Eberhardt ~ Matthew Modine, Daphne Zuniga, Christine Lahti, Todd Field
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