Critical Condition

Eddie Lenahan is a small-time con artist who finds himself on the wrong side of both the law and some dangerous criminals. Facing a prison term, he pretends to be insane in the hope of avoiding jail, but a judge sends him to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation instead. When a storm knocks out the power, a case of mistaken identity leaves him taken for a doctor, and he suddenly has to keep up the act to stay out of prison.

Michael Apted directed the comedy, the sixth of the nineteen features he made and the one that followed Firstborn and came before Gorillas in the Mist. Richard Pryor plays Eddie, with Rachel Ticotin, Rubén Blades, Joe Mantegna and Bob Dishy in supporting roles. The screenplay was written by John Hamill and Denis Hamill, and Paramount produced it on a budget of 14 million dollars.

Released in January 1987, the film took in about 20 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 5.3 from roughly 4,200 votes, and on TMDB it sits at 5.5 from a much smaller number of votes.