I liked this film because it not only was entertaining but also enlightening. The film essentially explores the obstacles that veterans have to go through to get medical care and to what length some doctors will go to provide it. It brought me into an awareness that the Veterans Administration may not adequately care for our soldiers once they leave the service. Ray Liotta turned in an endearing performance.

As a comedy, this film is a failure. Fortunately, as the film progresses, the lightheartedness is toned down, and it evolves into a thoughtful drama. To be sure, this movie is hard to take seriously at times, but the one-on-one encounters are often rather effective. In particular, the relationship between Kiefer Sutherland and Eli Wallach stood out as my favorite part of the movie. The ending, although hard to believe, still had a powerful kick, and may prove to be an eye-opening experience for some people. It is most certainly a flawed film, but it is also still worth a look, and I would have to say that I learned a thing or two from this movie as well.

Though many veterans leave the battlefields of war, they sometimes enter another battlefield: that of rehabilitation. So many are physically and psychologically scarred that the medical care they will need after leaving active duty is endless. "Article 99" is about the veterans, the woefully inadequate care they get, the bureaucracy ocean they have to swim through, and the tireless doctors that just want to help.

Dr. Richard Sturgess (Ray Liotta) was the lead doctor of a team of doctors that knew all the tricks to help patients who weren't cleared to be helped. He and his sidekicks, Dr. Handleman (Forest Whitaker) and Dr. Bobrick (John McGinley), were experts at doing end arounds to get patients the critical care they needed and deserved.

Dr. Morgan (Kiefer Sutherland) was new to the V.A. hospital. Would he jump right in and also circumvent the rules to help his patients or would he obediently follow the dictates of the director, Dr. Henry Dreyfoos (John Mahoney), which meant shoving sick veterans out the door because of budget cuts and lost paperwork?

This movie was excellent. It was somewhat hampered by the now-that-we've-had-sex-let's-get-to-know-one-another relationship between Dr. Sturgess and Dr. Diana Walton (Kathy Baker). I think that cheapened the movie which was dealing with a very noble and oft-ignored topic.

Not since "Born on the Fourth of July" had I seen such extensive cinematic coverage of the treatment of ill and injured veterans. "Article 99" took a rather comedic approach to the issue, but not so comedic it minimized the matter. It's a commendable movie that sheds light on the plight of so many veterans and the handcuffed medical workers that want to aid them.