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Review: Ambition and obsession in ‘The Good Doctor’

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Romantic obsession meets Munchausen syndrome in “The Good Doctor.” As the title character, whose derangement builds slow and steady, like an IV drip, Orlando Bloom is low-key bordering on recessive, in sync with the cool psychological thriller and its undercurrent of black comedy.

Targeting age-old English class consciousness, not contemporary American healthcare woes, the movie is a shrewd commentary on careerism and status.

With his boyish haircut and anxious air, Bloom’s Martin Blake, a Brit just beginning his medical residency in Southern California, has yet to develop the swagger of fellow resident Dan (Troy Garity).

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Expecting to be treated with reverence, he chafes at the presumptuousness of an orderly (Michael Peña) and the backtalk of a tough nurse (Taraji P. Henson). In the blue-white interiors of the hospital and Blake’s barely furnished apartment, director Lance Daly (“Kisses”) emphasizes the protagonist’s solitude and alienation.

A pretty teen patient (Riley Keough) and her kidney infection provide just the opportunity the newbie doc seeks. Beneath his solicitousness and her gratitude, a mutual pathology takes hold, evident to anyone who might overhear their purred dialogue (“You’ll get better soon.” “Do I have to?”).

Some of the underplaying falls flat, but for the most part the tone works. John Enbom’s slow-burn script avoids overloading the action with backstory or psychologizing, and Bloom strikes the right balance of diffidence, panic and blank-itude to keep things creepily on edge.

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Supporting performances are strong, with Rob Morrow especially convincing as a supervising physician, and J.K. Simmons making the most of a brief turn.

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“The Good Doctor.” MPAA rating. PG-13 for thematic material, disturbing situations and some crude sexual content. Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes. At Sundance Sunset Cinemas, West Hollywood.

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