Quid Pro Quo - Movie Review

Quid Pro Quo
***--

A guy walks into a plastic surgeons office and says he's a woman trapped in a man's body. In this day and age, if the guy happens to be wealthy enough, the doctor would probably pull out a marker and start making plans. A second guy walks into the same office and says he's a paraplegic trapped in an able-persons body. Chances are, the surgeon wouldn't act as fast to pull out a baseball bat and start hitting the guy's spine.

Our line between what is justifiable as personal betterment must inevitably be drawn as our technological limits grow vastly larger. Quid Pro Quo, at it's best, begins to draw those lines.

Isaac is a partially paralyzed man, incapable of moving his legs. Working as a human interest reporter for a small radio company, he is tipped off on an interesting underground society made up entirely of disability "Wannabees." These individuals want nothing more than to have a pierced spinal cord, or a feeding tube placed down their throats. The most interesting of these is Fiona, a woman who takes an unusual liking to Isaac.

At it's worst, Quid Pro Quo turns into a melodramatic romantic drama. Isaac and Fiona are both interesting characters, and their interaction (as the latin title suggests) draws some great parallels between all relationships. Nevertheless, their relationship can't help but lack realism.

Even at a fairly short run-time, the movie still comes off as long. The pacing is, quite frankly poor, and the film never quite manages to play it's cards at the right time. There could have been some great twists here, but the movie can never decide whether it wants to be a detective film or a romantic drama. As it stands, the film is jumbled when it comes to it's subject matter, which is fascinating while at the same time is both absurd and real.

Quid Pro Quo isn't a bad movie, but the fact of the matter is that the film itself is much less interesting than the conversations it will probably elicit from it's audience. On it's own however, the film can never manage to find it's legs.