Diagnosing 'Emily Rose' | Movie Answer Man
A: Scott Derrickson, director of "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," replies: "It's true that 'psychotic epileptic disorder' is not the name of any real medical condition -- nor is the drug 'Gambutrol' real, for that matter. The use of the actual names of recognized medical conditions and pharmaceuticals in movies typically must be changed for legal and copyright purposes.
"To further address your concerns, it should be noted that in the film, the name 'psychotic epileptic disorder' is meant to be taken as a dubious medical term -- one that has been invented by the doctor on the witness stand. And the fact that the symptoms of psychosis and epilepsy do not correlate is pointed out by the defense, but that certainly doesn't negate the possibility that a person can have both conditions at once.
"This is all, however, beside the point, really. I can't speak for you, but it seemed quite obvious to me that your last paragraph was not intended as a literal evaluation of Emily Rose's condition or potential cure, but rather a symbolic acknowledgement that there are merits to both sides of the court case, and that the truth probably lies somewhere in the murky overlap between them."
Ebert again: Derrickson may have been too quick to write off psychotic epileptic disorder. Dr. Barton Odom, philosophy professor at Tarleton State University, informs me: "According to epilepsy.com, there are several syndromes in which the symptomatologies of psychosis and epilepsy do indeed correlate. So your sentence was correct as written: there is such a thing as psychotic epileptic disorder (several, in fact)."
Q. While reading my local paper over the weekend, I saw an ad for "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" that called it "The Best Reviewed Movie of the Year!" with a note stating this was from Rotten Tomatoes. So I went to rottentomatoes.com and looked up 2005 movies, and found that "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" has a Tomatometer rating of 85 percent -- very respectable, but hardly the best of 2005.
In fact, Rotten Tomatoes rates it as No. 35 in its list of 2005 movies. Rated higher than "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" are such wide-release movies as "Murderball," "March of the Penguins," "Kung-Fu Hustle," "Millions" and "Broken Flowers." Why (and how) can Universal Pictures get away with an ad that is blatantly lying? Doug Wicinski,Rockville, Md.
