"Playing God"- 

Pulp Fiction meets ER (At least I think so...I haven't seen 
either one). David is *the* lead character in this movie. He 
plays a doctor - Dr. Eugene Sands - who lost his license to 
practice medicine when a patient he was operating on died and 
it was discovered that he had been doped up on drugs at the 
time. 

When a man is shot two feet away from him in a bar, he performs 
impromptu surgery on a sucking chest wound that involves a wire 
hanger, a piece of plastic tubing, a cigarette lighter, some 
tape and a pop bottle.

He is then basically kidnapped by a couple of "metallica 
rejects" who work for a man named Raymond (played by Timothy 
Hutton), a criminal who is impressed by Eugene's medical skills 
and claims: "I can make you a doctor again." Of course, his 
patients are parolees who can't go to the hospital because it 
would land them right back in prison, but Eugene goes along 
with this until one of Ray's psycho friends puts a gun to his 
head and demands he "fix" a corpse. Eugene is then approached 
by the FBI and offered a chance to avoid prison for practicing 
without a license if he helps catch Raymond and agrees to be a 
material witness in the case against him. 

There is no clear black and white in this movie; only a big, 
fuzzy, grey area. Everybody, it seems, is acting as a double 
agent or forced to join the "other side". As Raymond says at 
one point: "everybody's wired". It may be confusing to follow, 
but that's what makes it interesting. 

You know this movie is supposed to take place in Los Angeles 
when one man pointing a rifle at another beside a busy freeway 
does not even get the attention of passing drivers. (Bored 
voice: "Oh, look honey, another one!") This is probably 
intended to emphasize the comment Eugene makes towards the 
beginning of the movie: "Hell does not always look like hell. 
On a good day it can look a lot like LA."

~Diandra Hollman