If it weren't for the fact that the studio folks deliberately misrepresented this film, it might have gotten a score of 5 or even 6. That's because I clearly remember it being advertised as a kooky comedy about medical school AND when I saw it soon afterwards, it was about as wild and kooky as stripping wallpaper. Instead, it mostly consisted of the lead (Matthew Modine) trying to get laid. And, much of his attention was focused on the older and more experienced Christine Lahti. For the most part, it looked like a made for TV movie grafted onto a raunchy 80s teen flick. The end result was very dull and unlikely to make anyone particularly happy--like eating a banquet made up only of white bread and ice water.

Joe Slovak (Matthew Modine) gets into Chandler University's College of Medicine. He's a smart irreverent student from a fishing community. His roommate David Schreiner (Todd Field) is neat and high-strung. His Gross Human Anatomy class is taught by Dr. Rachel Woodruff (Christine Lahti) who thinks he doesn't try hard enough. He changes group to be close to Laurie Rorbach (Daphne Zuniga). The group includes the self-important Miles Reed and Kim McCauley with a family.

This is 'The Paper Chase' of medical school. Everything in the story is telegraphed. The story is pretty well done. The acting is solid. There are some lighter rom-com moments but this is a generally serious drama. The major problem seems to be that there is an expectation of a wacky comedy with heart. There is no wacky comedy in this. There is a sprinkling of lighter moments in a pretty solid school drama.

After several years of trying, wavy-haired fisherman's son Matthew Modine (as Joseph "Joe" Slovak) is finally accepted at medical school. This is helped by his admission that he wants to be a doctor for the paycheck. Arriving at a school that looks very much like USC (aka The University of Southern California),Mr. Modine initially doesn't want to crack the books. He'd rather get into beautiful lab mate Daphne Zuniga (as Laurie Rorbach). Modine may also secretly desire professor Christine Lahti (as Rachel Woodruff),but not anal retentive roommate Todd Field (as David Schreiner)...

The title is going to make many think this is gross-out movie, but this is really a romantic college comedy, with cadavers...

Modine's lead character is very smart, but obviously not ready to take the Hippocratic Oath. This is something Prof. Lahti notices when she asks him to diagnosis a terminal case. He gets it right, but is heartless. Maybe he's just reacting to her being a hard-nose, because we see Modine's humanity in the way he treats Mr. Field's character (hope he's okay). The film is off balance because we care more about what happens to roommate Field, squirrelly John Scott Clough (as Miles Reed) and ovulating Alice Carter (as Kim McCauley) than Modine or Ms. Zuniga, who are likable but bland.

****** Gross Anatomy (10/20/89) Thom Eberhardt ~ Matthew Modine, Daphne Zuniga, Christine Lahti, Todd Field