There really aren't many medical based comedies out there. Perhaps it's society's respect for the profession that has only bred such fare as the soap opera spoofing Young Doctors in Love, the sex comedy shenanigans of Stitches, and an ode to ambulance drivers everywhere Paramedics (check out the trailer and you'll instantly want to watch it). Of course, there are more out there but it really seems there's untapped potential. White Coats, despite its pedigree, certainly doesn't live up to it. As the brainchild of writer-director Dave Thomas ("SCTV", Strange Brew) you'd expect a lot more laughs than is delivered. In fact, to use a pun, this one is pretty much D.O.A.

Take the basic "group of misfits" set up of Police Academy and place it in the halls of St. Albert's Hospital, mix in a lot of toilet humour that mostly feels out of place, completely forget about any nudity, and give our ragtag group a chance to become heroes and you know all you need to about White Coats. There's probably a reason it also goes under the title Intern Academy seeing as how close it sticks to the formula the 1984 cop romp established.

Aside from his duties behind the camera, Thomas also co-stars as head doctor Olson at our run down hospital who's given the job to teach a group of interns that, to be nice, are inept at best to begin. They open the flick with them doing rounds which gives a chance for some lowbrow jokes courtesy of a man with a doll stuck in his ass. We also meet our batch of students with the nerdy Mike (Peter Oldring) who's trying to impress his doctor father, the womanizing Dale (Pat Kelly), token Asian Christine (Jane McLean), and other general clichés. Also on hand is seemingly greedy, and super cheap, hospital administrator (Dan Aykroyd) and stuck up cardiologist Dr. Whiteside (Dave Foley).

This wouldn't be a comedy if our interns didn't get up to a bunch of hijinks and this has the expected visits to a strip club, Christine getting drunk at a party and doing a lingerie clad dance (I hate to admit this is one of the best moments here), the expected medical-based slapstick, and our plucky group having to band together to save the hospital from closing when they're forced to act like real doctors due to budget cuts. This is a movie where the typical dialogue exchange goes something like this: "Are you sexually active?" "No, I just lie there." At the same time, Thomas tries for a few serious messages about racism and tosses in a love story angle but all these earnest attempts are bashing up against juvenile jokes and a scene in which a slow-motion fight using donated organs breaks out. Cue a finale that hits a truly ridiculous pace (due to emergency room chaos) and feels totally rushed.

While you can almost see Thomas smirking at the jokes he's written and he's surrounded himself with Canadian character actors in bit roles (Matt Frewer, Maury Chaykin, Saul Rubinek) the rest of the mostly unknown cast is actually pretty likeable. Oldring and Kelly have pretty good chemistry together, TV veteran Lynda Boyd steals a couple of scenes as the head nurse, and Foley is pretty amusing as well. Aykroyd (Ghostbusters, The Blues Brothers) just seems to be here as a favour while taking a break from promoting his Crystal Head vodka and it's distinct skull bottle.

White Coats could have been worse. Of this I am sure. That doesn't mean it's really worthwhile, though. It's pretty lazy as a comedy and no amount of goodwill and okay performances can change that. If I was to recommend anything that treads a similar path I'd say go with the 1989 comedy/drama Gross Anatomy starring Daphne Zuniga and Matthew Modine - and I haven't seen that since the days of VHS which ought to tell you how slim pickings in the medical comedy sub-genre truly are. (Chris Hartley, 3/11/15)

Directed By: Dave Thomas.
Written By: Dave Thomas.

Starring: Peter Oldring, Pat Kelly, Viv Leacock, Ingrid Kavelaars.