Directed by Christopher Leone and co-written by Leone and Patrick Pianezza, a former paramedic, Code 3 brings an air of realism not many movies can match. And that real-life experience makes the characters feel fully developed and realized from the jump. The authenticity – to a point – helps mask some of the larger issues. But it’s still a well-intentioned, darkly comic look at an under-appreciated field.
Code 3 plot
Burned-out paramedic Randy (Rainn Wilson) has been through too much in his nearly 20 years on the job. It finally reaches a boiling point, and he quits. But he has one last shift to finish. He and his partner Mike (Lil Rel Howery) have 24 hours going from one emergency to the next. And to complicate matters even more, Randy also has to train new EMT Jessica (Aimee Carrero).
Code 3 review
Code 3 has an important point it wants to make. Paramedics and EMTs serve critical roles in society. Despite this, they are overworked, underappreciated, and underpaid. It’s a point of view everyone should be able to get behind. And it makes it bluntly, powerfully, and convincingly. But then it makes it again…and again…and again…
And this is Code 3’s biggest issue. It knows exactly what it wants to say, but it doesn’t have enough ideas to stretch it out over an entire movie. It’s all very repetitive. The paramedics receive a call, respond to the emergency, complain about something or other at the scene, get the patients to the hospital, are verbally abused by the doctors, get back in the ambulance, and repeat.
I’m sure it speaks to the nature of the job. In a broad sense, most days might be the same. The emergencies obviously will differ, but big picture, each day is more of the same. And when “the same” can mean dealing with extremely traumatic situations, that will eventually wear on even the most mentally tough people.
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And that’s all well and good, and absolutely deserves a spotlight. But from a movie perspective, it doesn’t always work. Even though the exact situations change, it too often feels like you’re rewatching something you just saw only mere minutes ago.
And then there are the few moments where Wilson’s character breaks the fourth wall. They’re unexpected and jarring, and take Code 3 into “telling, not showing” territory, which is always hard to pull off.
The script also has some wild tonal shifts, from broad comedy to drama to black comedy, and back and forth. A lot of these parts work on their own, but they’re stitched together in a confusing way.
And that makes Code 3’s structural issues so frustrating. When it works, it really works. It paints a realistic picture of what paramedics and EMTs go through on a day to day basis. It shows their struggles without being preachy or patronizing to the audience. And it’s done with humor, but not in a way that cheapens the important work they do. Everything is told with a sensitive touch to what paramedics go through, but it doesn’t back down from taking the whole system to task.
But the repetitiveness and the several, rough tonal changes diminish what could have been an even stronger commentary on what our valued paramedics go through in service of the greater good for their community.
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Code 3 is helped along with the trio of leads. Wilson gets the biggest “acting” moments, while still having plenty of chances to display the off-beat humor he’s most known for. Howery has proven to be one of the more reliable comedy supporting characters, and Code 3 benefits from having someone steady like him on board.
And Aimee Carrero is perfectly fine. She serves mostly as the surrogate for the audience, with both Wilson and Howery’s character having to do a lot of explaining throughout their 24 hour shift together. She’s a good actress (check her out in Apple TV’s Your Friends and Neighbors from earlier this year; she’s terrific), so she’s able to elevate the material some.
Yvette Nicole Brown and Rob Riggle are always welcome additions to any movie. They create some additional conflict as Randy and Mike’s beleaguered boss and the cranky, angry, emergency surgeon, respectively.
Is Code 3 worth watching?
Code 3 shines a light on the important work paramedics do, while highlighting some of the very real issues they have to deal with on a daily basis. But its repetitive nature holds it back from being as effective as it could be.
Code 3 opens in theaters September 12.
