John and Aileen Crowley (Fraser and Keri Russell from “August Rush” and “Felicity”) are a happily married couple with three children. Two of their children, 8-year-old Megan and 6-year-old Patrick, have Pompe disease. It is a rare neuromuscular genetic disorder that occurs in people who inherit a defective gene from each parent. It most often affects the muscles used for breathing and mobility. Most children die from respiratory or cardiac complications before 2 years of age.

John is a successful executive whose salary and health insurance pay for the $40,000/month 24-hour care required by his two children in wheelchairs and on respirators.

When Megan nearly dies and her doctor utters the familiar line “there is nothing we can do,” John decides to challenge the mortality odds and joins forces with Dr. Robert Stonehill (Ford), an eccentric research scientist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Stonehill has a theory about creating an enzyme to break down the sugar buildup in the diseased cells. He has worked on this for 10 years, but has received inadequate funding and no grants have been approved.

John puts his business background to good use. A nonprofit foundation is created and fundraising activities provide seed money for a bio-tech company. Venture capital is raised for this start-up concern. Ultimately, a big pharmaceutical company enters into a buyout agreement. A clinical drug trial is the initial step before a miracle life-prolonging product comes to the marketplace for consumption.

This uplifting movie provides hope and inspiration for all families struggling with crippling diseases. Annual telethons continue requesting donations, but we never see research results or hear about improvements. This movie is informative and educational in showing what it takes to make a medical breakthrough and turn ideas into viable prescription medication.

The movie is directed by Tom Vaughn (“What Happens in Vegas”) and written by Robert Nelson Jacobs (“The Shipping News” and “Chocolat”). It too often settles for mediocrity and mirrors a sugar-coated “disease of the week” production usually found on either the Lifetime or Hallmark television channel.

The movie plays fast and loose with the facts, stretching both credibility and believability. Dramatic license was taken, making the sick kids much older (they were actually only 15 months and 5 months old when doctors told their parents they were holding on to life by a thread) and the fictional character created for executive producer Ford represents a composite of various real-life scientists.

The movie injects doses of humor into a deadly serious subject. The wooden acting and dull dialogue detract from the compelling storyline, which is essentially a race against the system and time.

Fraser maintains a constant look of concern. Russell is merely window dressing as the supportive wife and tender-hearted mother. Ford gets to play an angry and disagreeable loose cannon with a short fuse. Kansas City, Kan., native and KU graduate Dee Wallace has a cameo as a waitress in a Nebraska bar.

Be sure to bring tissues since this crowd-pleaser will elicit tears of sadness, hope and joy. At the conclusion of a free advance screening, a satisfied audience gave the movie its stamp of approval with a sustained round of loud applause.

Review By:
Keith Cohen "The Movie Guy"