Review of 'Leave it to the Nurses - The Movie'

A review of a Japanese DVD I finally got around to watching (I think I actually bought it at least a year ago...)

I actually saw some DVD promotions for this movie back in 2003 when I was in Japan for the summer...  the poster really gets your attention - attractive Japanese nurses with machine guns...  what else could Etchy ask for?!?

...well its a comedy, not a p0rno... so don't get your hopes up. :-P

Within the first 5 minutes of the opening credits you can quickly tell it is based on a TV show (that was apparently big enough of a hit to warrant a movie....) it just has the feeling.

In this case the story centers around a group of nurses and doctors working at a hospital in Tokyo.  As you would expect, there's the typical exaggerated characters - pretty, ditzy one, mean old boss nurse, kind hearted earnest one, etc.    For the big screen they're given some extra drama - a crazy ex-patient has a crush on one of them and comes back and takes them all hostage when he is rebuffed.

I think to a western observer, the type of laughs in this film are a bit predictable and the jokes a bit lame, but that may just be a cultural thing...  This film does one thing I usually don't like - it stops being a comedy and turns into a huge, huge melodrama at the end - stretches believability out the window,  but of course there's a happy ending.  (movies like this make me respect stuff like 881 or even Windstruck for at least not selling out with their melodrama).  :-P

I'll give it a 4/10... at least I got to practice listening to some Japanese.