Playing God (1997)

A disgraced surgeon leaves his former life and reinvents himself as a gunshot doctor in the criminal underworld.

Director:

Andy Wilson

Writer:

Mark Haskell Smith

Stars:

David Duchovny, Timothy Hutton, Angelina Jolie

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Duchovny	...	Dr. Eugene Sands
Timothy Hutton	...	Raymond Blossom
Angelina Jolie	...	Claire
Michael Massee	...	Gage
Peter Stormare	...	Vladimir
Andrew Tiernan	...	Cyril
Gary Dourdan	...	Yates
John Hawkes	...	Flick
Will Stewart	...	Perry
Philip Moon	...	Casey
Pasha D. Lychnikoff	...	Andrei (as Pavel D. Lynchnikoff)
Tracey Walter	...	Jim
Sandra Kinder	...	Sue
Bill Rosier	...	Jerry
Keone Young	...	Mr. Ksi

Storyline

Stripped of his medical license after performing an operation while high on amphetamines, famed LA surgeon Dr Eugene Sands abandons his former life only to find himself crossing paths with Raymond Blossom, an infamous counterfeiter. Employed as a "gun-shot doctor" when Raymond's associates cannot risk visiting a hospital, Eugene is lured deep into the criminal world and becomes entangled with his boss's girlfriend.

---

Plot Keywords:

antihero | car | envelope of money | federal bureau of investigation | federal bureau of investigation agent | 

---

Taglines:

A game with no rules.

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong graphic violence, gore, pervasive language and some drug use

Did You Know?

Trivia

David Duchovny plays a doctor asked by a criminal to help his friend. Duchovny says "He's dead." Pointing a gun at Duchovny, the criminal says, "Well, fix him!" Duchovny responds, "I'll see what I can do." Twenty years earlier, in A Bridge Too Far (1977), James Caan plays a soldier who takes a wounded comrade to a field doctor. After the doctor tells him his friend is dead, Caan points a gun at the doctor and insists that he look at his friend. The doctor replies, "I can give him a quick examination if you like."

---

Goofs

Dance music is mixed in too quietly during a club scene; you can clearly hear the actors' feet shuffling on the floor, yet they're all shouting at each other.

---

Quotes

Eugene: I guess I should have felt better after saving that man's life, but I didn't. It just made me miss more what I once was. Like a prisoner getting one day out in the sun, it just made the prison seem that much more dismal.

---

Connections

Featured in At the Movies: The Devil's Advocate/I Know What You Did Last Summer/Playing God/Telling Lies in America/Eye of God/Year of the Horse (1997)

---

Soundtracks

These Boots Were Made for Walkin'
Written by Lee Hazlewood
Performed by Family of God featuring Adam Peters
Produced by Adam Peters and Johnny Sender
Re-mixed by David Arnold

User Reviews

God help this movie

Hollywood possesses the penchant for remaking old classic films, such as Gus Van Sant's re-working of Hitchcock's Psycho. Here's an idea: instead of remaking GOOD movies, why don't we remake bad ones, and try to improve them? In such a world, I would nominate "Playing God" for a treatment. The premise is interesting, and the script, although at times uneven, has moments of poetic lyricism and some nice touches. So . . . what happened? The finger must be pointed at the performances, which fail to capture the essence of the screenplay. David Duchovny is cast against type as a drug-addled ex-physician, and Timothy Hutton's portrayal of gangster Raymond Blossom borders on the plane of villainy and its cariacture. Duchovny, whose deadpan delivery and solemn glances work fine in the X-Files, must realize that the role he's playing here is NOT Fox Mulder, but a much more unsympathetic character. Grade: C

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

17 October 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Playing God

Filming Locations:

6th Street Viaduct, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,937,374, 19 October 1997

Gross USA:

$4,166,918

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,166,918

Company Credits

Production Co:

Beacon Communications, Beacon Pictures, Club Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1