Back to trending
The Doctor

The Doctor

Drama · 1991

Jack McKee is a doctor with it all: he's successful, he's rich, and he has no problems.... until he is diagnosed with throat cancer. Now that he has seen medicine, hospitals, and doctors from a patient's perspective, he realises that there is more to being a doctor than surgery and prescriptions.

Movie details

The Doctor

“An Uplifting Story About Finding New Meaning In Life.”

1991 Drama 2h 2m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.5 / 10

Community rating

Jack McKee is a doctor with it all: he's successful, he's rich, and he has no problems.... until he is diagnosed with throat cancer. Now that he has seen medicine, hospitals, and doctors from a patient's perspective, he realises that there is more to being a doctor than surgery and prescriptions.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Doctor?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

The Safety of Objects

The Safety of Objects

Drama · 2002

In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.

The Trials of Cate McCall

The Trials of Cate McCall

Drama · 2013

In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.

The Attack

The Attack

Drama · 2012

An Arab surgeon living in Tel Aviv discovers a dark secret about his wife in the aftermath of a suicide bombing.

Iron Jawed Angels

Iron Jawed Angels

Drama · 2004

Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.

The Poker House

The Poker House

Drama · 2008

Agnes and her two sisters struggle through a day in a home overrun by gamblers, thieves, and johns.

Bastard Out of Carolina

Bastard Out of Carolina

Drama · 1996

A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.

Holy Lands

Holy Lands

Drama · 2019

When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.

Lucky Them

Lucky Them

Drama · 2013

More interested in partying and flirting with young musicians than work, veteran rock journalist Ellie Klug has one last chance to prove her value to her magazine’s editor: a no-stone-unturned search to discover what really happened to long lost rock god, Matt Smith, who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend. Teaming up with an eccentric amateur documentary filmmaker, Ellie hits the road in search of answers.

Fort Bliss

Fort Bliss

War · 2014

After returning home from an extended tour in Afghanistan, a decorated U.S. Army medic and single mother struggles to rebuild her relationship with her young son.

Wit

Wit

Drama · 2001

A renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Randa Haines

Written by

Robert Caswell

William Hurt

William Hurt

Jack

Christine Lahti

Christine Lahti

Anne

Elizabeth Perkins

Elizabeth Perkins

June

Mandy Patinkin

Mandy Patinkin

Murray

Adam Arkin

Adam Arkin

Eli

Charlie Korsmo

Charlie Korsmo

Nicky

Wendy Crewson

Wendy Crewson

Leslie Abbott

Court is in session

Put The Doctor on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.