CODE 3
Starring: Rainn Wilson, Lil Rel Howery, Aimee Carrero, Rob Riggle, and Yvette Nicole Brown
Director: Christopher Leone
QUENTIN
Here's something I didn’t expect to have on my 2025 movie Bingo card: Code 3 is a gem of a movie and one of the year’s biggest surprises. Despite being marketed as a straight comedy, this is anything but. Yes, there are dark laughs, but only in the way that one must laugh in the face of tragedy just to get through the day. Otherwise, this is an honest and harrowing tribute to paramedics and a scathing indictment of the American healthcare system. It’s heartfelt, heartbreaking, and surprisingly moving, especially surprising if you’re only aware of the movie’s photo-shopped travesty of a poster.
ROBERT
I saw Code 3 was coming out and thought it would be Ambulance if Michael Bay had a funny bone. Turns out, it’s not only a higher form of comedy, but also a more complete movie. There is an insightful, biting commentary on the state of healthcare and how every cog in that machine tries to survive separately but together, while Rainn Wilson and Lil Rel Howery are not only hilarious together, but also separately. They convey emotional depth about the horrors of paramedic life and how to combat jadedness on soul-crushing shifts. They’re not the TS mother-f’ing A. They’re EMS… the real heroes.
This film was reviewed by Quentin as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of Fantasy Filmfest 2025.