loviatar9 I didn't make it all the way through this movie, and that's a shame. The main issue "Article 99" attempts to address is an important one, one close to my heart because of several veteran relatives & friends. It shines an accusatory light on the sub-par (at best)treatment provided the men & women who served our country. Almost every single face we see in just the first 30 minutes belongs to an actor/actress who has garnered accolades in television (especially) or film. Kiefer Sutherland, Forest Whitaker, Eli Wallach... even the guy who plays "Frank" on "ER" (Troy Evans). Over the years I've enjoyed almost every single actor/actress in this movie. It's depressing to watch them all be crushed to death under the crappy dialog and undecided direction of "Article 99".This movie tries to blend the seriously horrid state of care in VA hospitals with the chummy banter of their long-suffering, comrade-in-arms doctors and nurses. It does an abysmal job of it. The schlocky repartee detracts mightily from the issues it attempts to address. This is one of those movies you watch hoping it'll get better and puzzling over why things went so horribly wrong.

lord woodburry Once upon a time in the Reagan administration, a cog in the cabinet discovered to his amazement that with all the US veterans floating out there from the abysmal failure in Vietnam, the sheer cost of treating them as they aged would skyrocket.Thus it was decided to abolish their problems. See in Bushist America we ignore any problem that we don't want to face.The movie brings up a valid point. The VA has failed in its mission. And the situation from the time the movie was released has worsened. With 80,000 in treatment from the latest war the issues raised by this movie are ones that need to be addressed.Regrettably by reading some hijinx from M * A * S * H into the civil service bureaucracy of the VA and creating a feel good ending the scriptwriters muted the very point they'd like to have made. I gave this a ******* 3 ******** for all its comic but unfunny unrealism. The movie compares with John Q for the unrealistic expectations foisted upon the viewer.It's betterto Tell it like it is than to pretend a social problem is getting better!

aubertin-1 I loved that movie when it came out, and again when I had a chance to see it recently. I feel it is one of the best portrayals, today more than ever, of how frustrating our bureaucracy is becoming, putting dollars before people, even more-so in every public sector, where they should be leaders for the private sector and not the other way around. The solution presented in this picture doesn't seem very plausible, but one never knows. It also portrays well how conscientious underdogs/dedicated professionals feel in such working environments, and how many manage to make things right is spite of the illogical rules they get to bypass, all this while still keeping their sanity - no burnouts for them! Watch it, it's worth it, even more for anyone who is a Keefer Sutherland fan.

Michael O'Keefe This is a terse drama with its moments of comedy. Keifer Sutherland is a young doctor signing on at a Veteran's Hospital where Ray Liotta leads a renegade group of doctors going against hospital rules and lack of funds to provide help to ailing veterans. You won't get what you want...and what you do get ain't worth *#^t. That attitude is easy to take when you're a victim of Bureaucratic Red Tape. This is an eye opening movie, but not evocative of the majority of VA Hospitals. The very talented cast includes: Forest Whitaker, John Mahoney, Lea Thompson and Keith David. Along with Liotta, John C. McGinley and veteran actor Eli Wallach seem to add a special touch. Worthwhile even if it is sometimes stretching the boundaries of reality.