Edward Newgate (Sturgess) is a young doctor fresh out of Oxford who travels to the titular Stonehearst Asylum to start his practice. He finds that the doctor in charge, Silas Lamb (Kingsley), doesn't go in for the barbaric practices common to "asylum medicine" - his patients are allowed to indulge their delusions, and everything seems to be running more or less well. There are a couple of oddities, of course; they are served squirrel for dinner (with some offhand mention of problems with supply lines), and the groundskeeper Mickey Finn (Thewlis) is openly hostile and creepy. He tries to drug Newgate, but Eliza Graves (Biel), a patient with whom Newgate is already becoming smitten (ethical no-no, doc) prevents him and tries to get him to leave.
Newgate very quickly discovers what's happening here - Lamb isn't the doctor in charge. He was a doctor in the army, but went nuts and was committed. The staff of the asylum, including the actual administrator, Doctor Salt (Caine) are locked in the basement, slowly starving. Newgate ponders letting them out, but they're sure Lamb and his lunatics would kill them, and they're too weak to make a run for it. So Newgate keeps up the ruse as long as he can, but shit starts going off the rails really quickly because Lamb is in no way qualified to run this place and also they out of food.
This all culminates in a party on New Year's Eve where Mickey murders a young patient (Clark), Newgate attempts to drug everyone and fails, Lamb tries to electroshock Newgate into submission as he's done to Salt but Newgate breaks through to him by reminding him of what he did to get here (namely, he suffered a break and shot a bunch of wounded soldiers). Mickey gets set on fire and Newgate and Eliza flee, and twist, Newgate isn't Newgate. He was a patient that saw Eliza being tortured (sorry, "treated") by the actual Newgate (Gleeson) and came to Stonehearst to rescue her.
So, first off, holy shit this cast. Jim Sturgess holds his own, which is impressive. Ben Kingsley is really good at playing someone who's more dangerous than they seem at first (see also Sexy Beast), and I'm always impressed at David Thewlis' range, because he's portrayed some very kind, sympathetic people and then there's this fucker. The script...well, it's not bad. I think it kind of overuses the "lunatics are running the asylum" and it's by no means a new trope (hell, Don't Look in the Basement! did it and uses a bunch of the exact same beats), and the second act drags a bit. The asylum doesn't quite establish that sense of place I love so much, and honestly the movie seems sort of unfocused in general.
That said, it's worth the watch just for the cast, and for the line "What, and make a miserable man out of a perfectly happy horse?"
My Grade: B-
Rewatch Value: Medium-low
Rewatch Value: Medium-low
Next up: Catwoman
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