Awake

A heart transplant patient (Hayden Christensen) remains conscious and alert under anesthetic, though he appears fully “under”—and learns that his medical team (Terrence Howard, Fisher Stevens, Georgina Chapman) have their own plans for him. Writer-director Joby Harold gets off to an excruciatingly slow start—perhaps consciously padding things out, since the movie runs only 78 minutes, including the final credit crawl—and his story (as opposed to his premise) is more than a little outlandish. Still, it becomes more and more fun as the twists pile up—not entirely convincing, but diverting, like something concocted by a bright eighth-grader. The good cast certainly helps; others include Lena Olin as Christensen’s willful mother, Jessica Alba as his fiancé, and Arliss Howard as a rival surgeon.