The Good Doctor is a 2011 thriller starring Orlando Bloom as the titular Doctor, Martin Blake, who becomes obsessed with his female patient, who has a kidney infection. It also stars Riley Keough, Taraji P. Henson, Rob Morrow, and Michael Peña among others.
Directed by Lance Daly, the film was released on 2011 at Tribeca, with a worldwide release on August 31, 2012.
Not to be confused with the TV series The Good Doctor, or to the Neil Simon play based on Anton Chekhov's stories.
This film provides examples of:
- Blackmail: Jimmy uses Diane's diary to force Martin to give him drugs.
- Blatant Lies: The title. Not only is Martin not a good doctor, he's an absolutely horrible person who repeatedly goes against everything he's supposed to stand for as a doctor and gets two people killed, one in his quest for attention and praise, and the other to hide the previous crime.
- Hide the Evidence: Martin puts the diary in the garbage.
- I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: Wade Williams, who plays Mr. Nixon, previously worked with Morrow on The Whole Truth.
- J. K. Simmons and Morrow previously worked together on NUMB3RS.
- Karma Houdini: Martin gets away with botching Diane's treatment, which kills her, and for Jimmy's murder, who he killed to protect his possible relationship with Diane. Doubles as a Downer Ending.
- It's All About Me: Martin is insufferably egotistical and treats everyone as though they're beneath him. When Diane's parents hail him as a hero for saving Diane's life, he starts interfering with her treatment so he can pretend to save her again and get more fuel for his ego. This ends up getting Diane killed when Martin goes too far, and later Jimmy as well when he discovers the threat the diary poses to his reputation.
- Sequel Hook: The fact that Martin makes it to the end of the movie with his two murders covered up hints at a sequel which unfortunately never got made. Hopefully, it would have been about Martin's downfall.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Martin desires to be a doctor so he can have power over people's lives.
- Tagline: "Do No Harm".
- Villain Protagonist: Martin, despite being the film's main protagonist, is in no way a good guy and is so awful that the audience is meant to hope that he'll be caught.
