Concussion
2015
**½
Director: Peter Landesman
Cast: Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Arliss Howard, Paul Reiser, Luke Wilson, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, David Morse, Albert Brooks
When a Nigerian-born forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu concludes that a number of former football players died as a result of repeated head trauma during their playing careers, the news does not go down well with the National Football League. Peter Landesman's fact-based drama is based on Game Brain, a 2009 GQ article by Jeanne Marie Laskas. The topic is compelling and eye-opening, but the resulting film is long and laborious. The side plot tells us how Dr. Omalu met his wife, but the couple seem to spend all their time talking about the case.
