Vital Signs (1990 film)

Vital Signs is a 1990 American comedy-drama film directed by Marisa Silver and starring Adrian Pasdar, Diane Lane and Jimmy Smits.

Vital Signs
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Marisa Silver
Screenplay by	Larry Ketron Jeb Stuart
Story by	Larry Ketron
Produced by	Laurie Perlman Cathleen Summers
Starring	Adrian Pasdar Diane Lane William Devane Norma Aleandro Jimmy Smits
Cinematography	John Lindley
Edited by	Robert Brown
Music by	Miles Goodman
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	April 13, 1990 (1990-04-13)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1,224,605[1]

Plot

The story of a group of 3rd year students at a Los Angeles medical school and their struggles with love, their studies and one another.

Cast

• Adrian Pasdar as Michael Chatham
• Diane Lane as Gina Wyler
• Jimmy Smits as Dr. David Redding
• Jack Gwaltney as Kenny Rose
• Laura San Giacomo as Lauren Rose
• Jane Adams as Suzanne Moloney
• Tim Ransom as Bobby Hayes
• William Devane as Dr. Chatman
• Norma Aleandro as Henrietta Walker
• Bradley Whitford as Dr. Donald Ballentine
• Lisa Jane Persky as Bobby
• Wallace Langham as Gant
• James Karen as Dean of Students
• Eric Zoltaszek as Student

Development

The film was originally to have been about a country doctor.^[2]

Release

Reception

Vital Signs received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 43% of 7 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review.^[3]

Leonard Maltin gave the film one and a half stars and wrote in his review: "Watchable, but of absolutely no distinction; stick with The New Interns, where you can at least compare the acting styles of Dean Jones and Telly Savalas. Smits effectively projects quiet authority as the surgeon instructor."^[4]

Valerie Schoen of the Chicago Tribune also gave the film a star and a half and wrote, "I have to find Vital Signs dead on arrival."^[5]

Jay Boyar of the Orlando Sentinel gave the film two stars, calling it "weak - very weak."^[6]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times also gave the film an unfavorable review, writing that the film "never has much energy of its own. The film's very basic problem is that it contains no surprising turns, and that its characters are familiar through and through."^[7]

Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "The movie has everything, which may be its problem. This brisk, whipped-up show has no rough edges."^[8]

Jay Carr of The Boston Globe criticized the film's screenplay: "Vital Signs has a much better title than last year's med school outing, Gross Anatomy. But it's not a much better movie. In fact, this coming-of-age-in-med-school film is DOA, sunk by a banal script, the kind that insists that every crisis contain the seeds of its convenient resolution."^[9]

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a positive review: "The movie never strays far from camp, but on its own shameless terms, it delivers."^[10]

Home media

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film on DVD on June 7, 2005.^[11] The film was released on Blu-ray on October 1, 2013, by Anchor Bay Entertainment.^[12]