Vital Signs (1990) User Reviews (8)

Prototype third year medical students learn about medicine and life

[wmarti · 6/10 · 21 December 1999]

Why is it that movies about medical school always have the same formula for their characters (reference this movie, Gross Anatomy, Patch Adams...more)? There always has to be the hot-shot male lead for whom everything comes easy...except the good looking, no-nonsense female student, who feels like she has to work harder than everyone else to make up for the fact that she is a woman (and therefore has no time for men). Then there is the wacky friend, and as always there is the uptight, male student we all hate, who works really hard, but just can't seem to beat the protagonist. Surely there is some other way to develop interesting characters in this setting.

Either way, coming from the perspective of a current medical student, I found this movie to be far more interesting, realistic, and believable than any of the other aforementioned movies (yes, I know P.A. was a true story...my statement stands). Granted, you will be infinitely more likely to find third year medical students transporting stool samples and chasing down fast food for their residents than scrubbing in and performing abdominal surgery.

I found the student/patient, student/student, student/resident relationships to be very well developed and believable. The script was interesting, upbeat, and gave a good look at the tempo and pressure of third year. There were plenty of plot intricacies to keep you "tuned in" throughout the movie. The cast is short on big names, but I believe well cast, and believable as students(I've read that they shadowed medical students before filming).

I wouldn't say that this movie is a must-see, but it is the most accurate depiction of medical school that I have seen, and there probably isn't a physician out there whose stomach won't tense up a bit when the attending physicians begin "pimping" the students on Grand Rounds.

Hubba Hubba, Adrian Pasdar! (spoilers)

[vertigo_14 · 4/10 · 18 May 2004]

This movie is very much like Gross Anatomy, released the previous year, only it is much more dramatic and involves third year med students in action. It looked like it could've been a pilot for a television show, except the ending when everyone disbands to practice their own specialties across the country.

Third year medical students are faced with a greuling year of endless days of rounds and heated competition for residencies, internships, and specialties. The center of the story is Michael Chatham (Adrian Pasdar), a surgeon hopeful who learns the reality of hospital life as well as what is necessary to get ahead, competing with a fellow surgeon hopeful Kenny Rose (Jack Gwaltney) and butting heads with a conniving surgeon resident (Bradley Whitford). Rose is heatedly competetive against Chatham to get the internship with Dr. Redding (Jimmy Smits), so much so that it jeopardizes his marriage (his wife played by Laura San Giacomo) and tests the faithfulness of his friendship to Chatham. Somehow, though, everyone wins in the end.

Diane Lane plays Chatham's love interest, Gina Wyler, who I suppose is to this film what Daphne Zunigan is to Gross Anatomy, only not so reluctant to enter a relationship with Chatham. Suzanne Maloney (Jane Adams) and Bobby Hayes (Tim Ransom) play the other two students in their third year group, who make an amusing distraction from the main plot as roommates who try the 'couple' thing, but can't make it work.

Vital Signs isn't all that bad, though there is some repition between this and Gross Anatomy and moments where you are just aching for something important to happen as they tend to drag on with petty subplots and other trivial situations. They were building up to something good with Smits as the laid-back mentor and should've given more attention to just that. Nonetheless, it is still a rather entertaining movie documenting a day in the life of a couple of determined med students. Best recommended for Adrian Pasdar and Jimmy Smits fans.

Overall, an accurate depiction of medical school competition

[robertevans · 15 February 2001]

Although some scenes are over-dramatized, the film, as a whole, accurately depicts the cut-throat competition in medical school, as opposed to another critic's opinion that it was less accurate than the movie, Gross Anatomy, which in my opinion, was the furthest away from reality.

Some scenes in Vital Signs imply that medical school students in their third year (the first year out of the classroom) have more authority and autonomy than what is true in reality. But the film shows the human side of medicine and that medicine isn't an exact science. Physicians can practice and study for years and still not completely understand the human body.

The relationships in the movie are very realistic, especially with Kenny Rose and his wife. Medical school (and medicine in general) takes up a great deal of personal time, which can be damaging to a relationship. The "hanky-panky" between Michael and Gena happens all the time. The relationship between Michael and his father is realistic as well. Sometimes the profession consumes the physician and without knowing it, harms the family life.

Again, I found this film to be a realistic portrayal of medical school. In fact, I have this film on tape and watch it from time to time to motivate me in my medical career. I would recommend this movie to anyone in the medical field, especially students thinking about medical school.

Utterly predictable

[preppy-3 · 2/10 · 19 September 2007]

Completely ordinary and boring "drama" of a bunch of third year medical students.

This story is so by the numbers it's insulting. Every character has they own separate little drama and they're all tied up nice and fine by the end of the movie. Every single story line is predictable (as are the outcomes) so it gets incredibly boring just watching it. I also heard there were a lot of errors in terms of the medical dialogue...but I can't swear to that. They have a bunch of very talented actors who are just wasted. All of them struggle with their roles but they're given totally one dimensional characters to work with. No actor could make this work.

I give this a 2 only for the nude and real hot sex sequence between Adrian Pasdar (all pumped up) and Diane Lane (looking great). Still that's no real reason to watch this. Avoid.

An 80s drama? A really bad dream? Punishment for a crime? No it's Vital Signs!

[Peanuthead · 1/10 · 16 April 2005]

I can just picture Larry Ketron sitting in a producers office pitching this film. "We'll use a bad 80s medical drama as our base line.We'll get a director with no experience and no talent, a cast that could have been rejected from "The Hightes" and stick Jimmy Smits right in the middle of it just for fun." Vital Signs makes scrubs look serious by comparison. The pacing of this film is so slow that at times it feels longer than all the Lord of the Rings movies put together. I have seen Italian operas that felt shorter then this movie. It's partially the director, Marisa Silver's fault. Hey Marisa, can you say An Alan Smithee film? The film looked like it was cut with a chain saw, and it was incredibly disjointed. I don't know if the writer of this movie was UN-knowledgeable or just didn't care about facts, but the factual errors in this movie would have ruined it had it been filled with the greatest actors on earth. The movie is about 3rd year med students, but they are doing things that only residents and attendings can do. Pluse why is everyone referring to these students as "Doctor"? They aren't doctors! Far worse however is the acting. This cast has shown up to do one thing, and that is collect their pay checks. When Jimmy Smits is the most talented man on the team, you know you are in trouble. Diane Lane is good to look at, but that's about the best I can say for anyone in the movie. Even her one love scene, though hot, comes at the wrong time in the film, thanks again to our friend the editor. I bet this is the film on which William Devane finally realized his career was over. I rented this movie for .25 cents from the video store down the street, and I am thinking of asking for my money back.

Vital Signs Gives Great Life Support ****

[edwagreen · 10/10 · 17 February 2010]

This is a terrific film dealing with 3rd year medical students in the tradition of television's "Ben Casey" and "Dr. Kildaire."

We live through their experiences. We see their love interests, and the latter conflicting with their medical responsibilities to themselves and their patients. We see how a young couple's marriage is adversely affected by medical school, we view competition between 2 excellent promising doctors for a top spot.

It's amazing that I would think so positively about a film that plays a song at the disco where the doctors go to relax and dance up a storm. The song goes about everyone falling on the floor, everyone kills a dinosaur!

The best part of the film is that it perfectly describes the idea that medicine in itself is not a perfect science. We view the emotions of doctors when tragedy strikes during a routine injection of a young patient.

The cast is top rate.

Notice that Norma Aleandro plays a 49 year old, 25 year elementary schoolteacher facing stomach cancer. Hard to believe that she has that position with her think Spanish accent.

What's even better about this film is that it shows that doctors are human beings, subject to the human frailties as all of us.

Think: Gross Anatomy Part II. Only not as good.

[MSJanke · 8/10 · 31 May 1999]

Tries to be Gross Anatomy; does an okay job. It's like Gross Anatomy Part II, but the cast isn't as good. Still, it has its moments and is in the very least entertaining.

Grey Could Never

[elvirammomo · 8/10 · 13 November 2020]

Michael's blue crop top in the end scene is my favorite styling moment in the last 50 years *chef's kiss*