Plot
Randy is a career paramedic, who is frequently on the 24hr shift, and is becoming burnt out, dealing with PTSD and panic attacks.
Along with partner Mike, they have been training new recruits, and the current shift they are joined by Jessica, who seemingly questions their every moves.
During the shift they must deal with the good, and the bad, in the medical system, and then there is their patients.
Director
Directed by Christopher Leone, his second feature film.
Cast
Rainn Wilson plays Randy – and he once again shows that he has more to him than ‘that’ television show he was in… even then he delivered in both drama and comedy.
Milton “Lil Rel” Howery plays Mike, he has some very impressive scenes, especially in the “Charlie” situation midway through the film.
Aimee Carrero plays Jessica. I’ve only seen her in a small handful of roles, and she brings a level of confidence as the ‘rookie paramedic’.
Rob Riggle plays Dr Serrano. He is mostly known for his comedic ability, yet he too brings a level of nuance to the film as yet another man burnt out by the system.
Yvette Nicole Brown plays Shanice, the supervisor who is short staffed, and desperate to keep those she has… her scene where she is on the phone to the nursing home is utter brilliance!
Breakdown
Bears, Beets, Burgers… and Brain Smells??? That’s’ what you get here in this Rainn Wilson driven comedy drama… although – he doesn’t do much driving.
Wilson plays Randy, he’s a seasoned paramedic in (LA?) who works the 24hr shift alongside partner Mike, the only person who can stand to work with him due to his prickly personality and his high standards. He is also suffering from burn out and panic attacks, and starts the movie with a job interview, that he finds out he is successful halfway through, making him excited for his ‘final’ shift.
They have been training new recruits lately, and their latest is the equally as prickly Jessica – who gives to Randy as much as she gets, questioning his every action – especially at some tricky accident scenes. One such scene where a man has a stick through the eye – Randy orders her to cover both eyes, much to her objection. But he sees big picture – and worries about the variables that are unknown (how far back the stick goes, how the eyes work in tandem etc).
It what has been called the most realistic representation of paramedic work. During their shift they have many moments, with some of their regulars (Jimmy, the naked junkie who is just hungry), Charlie the PTSD army vet with severe schizophrenia (who only gets 20 tablets per month to assist him). This leads to a frightening police confrontation, where Randy Mike and Jessica beg them to lower their guns. There is also the heart breaking arc with the lad who was hit in the chest with a baseball, the almost comical call out to the senior citizen home, and the moment of joy among chaos in the final car accident scene.
Randy’s supervisor, played by the always amazing Yvette Nicole Brown, has a brilliant scene following the senior citizen home scene, in which she backs her team in a brilliant phone call to the charge nurse. If you haven’t seen the film, just try to check out this arc for Shanice’s phone call alone.
This is one of the political issues that the film brings up in a fluid way, such as the aforementioned police inability to deal with conflict resolution, but also the criminally low pay that paramedics receive (in a rather confronting on screen salary reveal). The low budgets, and under staff of hospitals is another significant issue, that is why one of the regular Dr that randy continuously comes into contact with (a scene stealing, and then heartbreaking Rob Riggle), is always in a permanently bad mood.
There is a fantastic screenplay, that includes a couple of monologues (with the familiar to the fourth wall break for Wilson) including the what’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen monologue and ‘eff’ everything that you wouldn’t see Dwight Schrute say. Despite all his “hate” for his job, he still shows tremendous amount of care in his work, with little moments such as fixing the photo of the deceased woman at the nursing home. There is some great comical banter included, like Randy’s frequent order to Jessica to ‘not’ run – which she keeps doing (and discovers why they don’t at one stage).
The final arc, where Randy nears the end of the shift has a few brilliant moments, such as his request for putting the lights on (when there is no call) – the lighting here is wonderful as he sees the red and blue flashing lights, lighting up the world around him. There is also an amazing twist in regards to Jessica, who reveals *** spoiler *** that she is not a new recruit, but actually a doctor, and will be working with Riggle’s jerk Dr (after calling him out on his poor attitude too!) Now that’s how you do a twist. Randy’s eventual departure from being a paramedic, to hating life not being a paramedic, to returning to being a paramedic is a ‘little’ cliche… but I’ll let it pass.
There really isn’t many downs that I can think of, other than 1) Jessica’s revelation of her mothers death and what prompted her to become a health care professional happens too early. We needed more time between her and Randy to make it more, and 2) the lack of an ‘actual’ narrative or real “villain” and 3) some minor cliche’ mentioned earlier…
Overall
With an absolutely stellar cast, the mixture of comedy to drama is brilliantly done.
From what is undoubtedly a near perfect portrayal of the life of a paramedic, this has some truly heartwarming moments, to some truly heartbreaking ones.
The end of film twist with Jessica, is exactly how a twist should be made.
A few tweaks to the screenplay (Jessica’s past) would have made this a 5/5. Very strong recommend.
4.5/5
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