Docteurs in love

This is a great movie. The two subplots are almost better than the main storyline. I've always liked Michael McKean and it was nice to see him in a serious role. If you used to be hooked on General Hospital and recognize the characters in their cameo roles it's even funnier. It's very seldom seen on television but well worth watching, even though they will cut it up a bit.

Dr. Joseph Prang (Dabney Coleman) teaches the new batch of interns at City Hospital for the next twelve months. A mob boss in hiding has a heart attack. Angelo (Hector Elizondo) takes him to the hospital in disguise while hunted by a hit-man (Michael Richards). Intern Phil Burns (Taylor Negron) likes hard-nosed head nurse Norine Sprockett (Pamela Reed). Popular intern Dr. Bucky DeVol (Ted McGinley) falls for hooker Julie. Intern Dr. Stephanie Brody (Sean Young) is suffering from mysterious pains. Dr. Simon August (Michael McKean) is cold but can't help falling for Stephanie. He is desperate to be a surgeon but can't stand the sight of blood.

This Garry Marshall movie is part spoof of a soap opera like General Hospital in the vein of 'Airplane!'. There are some funny bits. I still remember the urine scene. However, the comedic jokes don't come quite as fast and furious as 'Airplane!'. It's pretty broad but not all of it works. The cameos don't work on me since I don't watch soap operas. Sean Young is great and her character is classic soap material. Michael McKean is less capable as a leading man. He doesn't have charisma. His character is suppose to be stiff but it doesn't work if the actor is too good at it. Overall, this needs more jokes.

Young Doctors in Love reminds me of the early 80s comedies Meatballs, Johnny Dangerously, and Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. Spoof comedies that, despite the abundance of gags and running gags, just can't quite seem to match the comedic brilliance of something like Airplane. Although, Young Doctors in Love certainly fares better than some of the others, it too, offers humor that may wear thin after several viewings (Airplane, on the other hand seems to remain of timeless quality).

The film follows a handful of med school interns, although the movie itself really focuses on 1) the relationship between the emotionally void Dr. Simon August (Michael McKean) and the melodramatic, and soon-to-ailing love interest, Dr. Stephanie Brody (Sean Young); 2) the bizarre budding relationship between Dr. Phil Burns (played by the hilarious 80s bit-part regular, Taylor Negron) and the somewhat held-back but probably secretly kinky Nurse Norine Sprockett (Pamela Reed); and 3) my particular favorite, the interaction between Dr. Charles Litto and Angelo Bonafetti (played famously by Hector Elizando who's best was the deadpan delivery of "I used to play guitar and then I broke it over my brothers head and then I went to work"), a mobster who disguises himself as a woman to get his father in the hospital who is meanwhile always unsuccessfully threatened to be bumped off by his mafia rival, Malamud Callahan (played by a young Michael Richards).

There is a lot of course going on in the film, and it even uses the old PA background gags like we heard in Airplane and Meatballs. And it does have it's funny moments. But, as a mild spoof comedy of medical soap operas using humor that is somewhat outdated (on the order of like old dirty-joke joke books), it may best be reserved for the spoof cult crowd who can appreciate it best. If nothing else, tune it in to see big names in the old days (like Dabney Coleman, Harry Dean Stanton, Billie Bird, and more).

Why isn't this movie better known? I stumbled across it in a used video store and paid $2 for lack of anything else available. What a great surprise! It is the funniest movie I have ever seen. You can't take the world so seriously after watching "Young Doctors in Love."

All "Airplane-sque" films have to be extremely broad (but not vulgar) comedy that still somehow doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence. Such is a really tough combination (recall any of Leslie Neilson's attempts without the Zukers). Their audience is bright people who aren't embarrassed to laugh in the presence of other bright people. Young Doctors in Love is even better than Airplane. It is multilayered, and indeed does require several watchings to catch all its simultaneous hilarious flickers.

Nothing is sacred here. Dancing orphans, little people, egotistic surgeons, stroke victims with pointy tongues, balloon pregnancies (my personal favorite), (un?)requited transsexual love, nurses with pharmacy keys up for grabs, latino rumbra seducers, even vanilla ice cream. And poor "Kramer". Michael Richards fans must see this movie if for no other reason.

"Think fast!" and rent Young Doctors in Love today. You will be delighted. Guaranteed.

When I was younger, this was one of my favorite movies. Don't ask why... just accept it. I remembered the little things. Michael McKean cutting out the pinatas appendix as a child. The kids imitating Sean Young as she goes into convulsions during a dance class. Gary Friedkin trying to hang up the phone (he's a 'little person'... you know the scene.) The Philadelphia F'in Philharmonic. Harry Dean Stanton... as though you need anything more, right?

I bought a used copy in the late 90s and watched it again... oh boy... nowhere near the film I thought it was. Then I realized it followed up Airplane! and several other like-minded spoofs of the day. It was confused in a lot of ways, as though it wanted to be raunchy but wasn't sure how to do it.

I still like the film in bits... some of them are genuinely funny. But as others said, it has a genuine sitcom feel to it. This is Marshall's first film after having worked in television for over 20 years and considering his track record since, you can tell he learned a few things from this film. After this, he went on to make Pretty Woman, the Runaway Bride, and Frankie & Johnny, all of which are decent films. Of course he also directed Exit to Eden (Rosie O'Donnell and Dan Aykroyd in bondage-wear? OUCH!) but we'll forgive him for that...