In Michael Apted's Critical Condition (not to be confused with the similarly named Quiet Riot album, Condition Critical), comedy legend Richard Pryor plays a con artist named Eddie. Life is okay for Eddie, until one day he gets framed on a con job and ends up in front of a judge. Rather than risk jail time, Eddie claims to be insane, and is sent off to a mental hospital where he is to undergo some psychiatric examinations.

Once Eddie arrives, a massive thunderstorm hits the area and knocks out the electricity in the hospital. He figures this is his time to disguise himself as a doctor and bust out of the hospital under cover of the night, but it's not going to be that easy. Eddie gets mistaken for a real doctor and gets roped into acting like one so that his cover doesn't get blown. While all this is going on, there's a rather dangerous murderer who is also making a break for it, and he's far from cured of his psychosis.

Richard Pryor is one funny SOB. I know I'm not the only one who thinks his sense of comedic timing and physical comedy make him one of the true all time great modern comedians. So thank God that he's in this movie, because there's really no other reason to see. Pryor is great in the lead, delivering some killer one liners right one target. Sadly, he's not given a whole lot to work with, and that's a shame, because Critical Condition had some serious potential.

Director Michael Apted has done some decent movies before, like James Bond – The World Is Not Enough, Gorky Park and the Oscar nominated Nell, and in those films he has demonstrated some serious skill for dramas, thrillers, and action films. But here his work lacks focus. It starts off strong enough, and when we find out that Pryor's character is going to a mental hospital of all places, we figure 'hey, this can't lose' and having him impersonate a doctor would sound like it'd deliver oodles of laughs. They never really come as regularly as they need to though for this film to qualify as a stand out comedy. Pryor looks obviously strained here – doing his best to bring the laughs with only the weakest of scripts to work with, and director who doesn't have the same sense of comedic timing that he does. Wacky characters interact with Pryor (played by the likes of Bob Saget and Joe Mantegna) but their screen time feels forced and lacks fluidity. This results in too few funny scenes, despite the many attempts that the script works into the film.

Video:

The anamorphic widescreen transfer does show a bit of natural grain and some mild print damage in the form of specks and a few scratches here and there but otherwise looks pretty good. The colors are a little soft in a few scenes, almost looking washed out but this isn't the case for the entire film. On the whole, there is a nice level of detail evident throughout and only very minor edge enhancement present. Black levels are fairly strong and flesh tones look lifelike. This is a good transfer, if not a great one.