Dr. T And The Women
As a film critic you're sometimes faced with the dilemma of giving a movie a good review even when you know you could fault it for many things. I'm in such a situation right now with this review of "Dr. T And The Women," a dramedy by veteran filmmaker Robert Altman. It's one of those films you enjoy watching at the time but afterwards you realize it might not have been as good as you thought.
Normally I'd elaborate on what I mean when I use these amateur critic's phrases of mine, but I don't think it's necessary this time. Wouldn't you rather like to know what the film is about and what makes it good instead of another rhetorical rambling that sounds like something between a cross of a collegiate thesis and an excerpt from "Entertainment Weekly?"
Here's the deal, Richard Gere stars as Dr. Sully Travis, or "Dr. T" as he's known among his patients and friends. He's a wealthy gynecologist in Dallas who runs his own practice that's so popular the women in the waiting room argue over who gets to go next. Dr. T has a beautiful wife, two cute daughters and a nice house in the suburbs. He plays golf and goes hunting with his three buddies whenever he can. He's got it all doesn't he? Or he would at least if odd things didn't keep happening to him.
The first such incident comes early on in the film when we see his wife, daughters and their aunt shopping at a mall for daughter Dee Dee's wedding. Kate Hudson plays the bride-to-be, a Dallas Cowboy cheerleading-in-training who probably has gotten everything she's ever wanted. Tara Reid plays Connie, the younger sister who isn't such a snob and cares the most about her family. Laura Dern plays their passively alcoholic Aunt Peggy who has three little girls of her own and spoils all of them. Then there's Farrah Fawcett as Mrs. Katie Travis. She suffers a mental breakdown during the mall scene which lands her in a mental hospital for a rare mental disorder.
Okay go ahead and make your jokes about how it must have been a stretch for Fawcett to play a headcase. But she's actually quite good in this role as a woman who reverts to the mindset of a three-year-old. She doesn't have much dialogue but she gives a good performance, especially in a scene later in the film when Sully comes to visit her and you don't know whether to laugh or cry.
The movie mostly involves the women in Dr. T's life and there are A LOT of them. Besides his family there's also his patients, his staff and a woman named Bree (Hunt) who fascinates him for reasons he can't fully understand. Dr. T spends most of his time around women, in a very personal matter at that, the only thing he's seemed to learn is that they're all unique in their own way.
If I was going to give this film a bad review this would be the part I criticize it for a semi-dramatic scene in which Gere delivers a line like that to Hunt while they're playing golf. But for some reason I can't hold Dr. T's naivety of the fairer sex against him. After all, he's a doctor of the body, not of the mind.
There isn't really a definite plot (this is an Altman movie we're talking about), it's mostly just an overlapping character study and Dr. T is the filter all of the characters go through. Looking at the movie poster you know it boasts some really big-name actresses and they all have their fair share of screen time and each character has importance in the big scheme of things.
In an Altman film you sometimes wonder why he's spending so much time on characters just being themselves instead of working towards some goal or overcoming a conflict. I wondered this myself as the film reached the third act but was pleased with the results. Dee Dee's wedding serves as the boiling point where a lot of truths are revealed in a pretty funny way. That's when you think "Oh, okay, now I see where he was going with that."
However, what I DIDN'T understand was the actual ending sequence which has nothing to do with the wedding or any of the characters or stories that had come before. It's all about Dr. T but it's just so out of place it's rid iculous. This is one of those endings that kind of freaks you out, not because it's a twist of the story but because it's so bizarre you know it must be some kind of brilliant allegory and you can't figure it out.
For the most part "Dr. T And The Women" succeeds as an interesting and sometimes funny character study if nothing else. There's quite a few things that make you raise an eyebrow and if you're not easily amused you won't like the film as a whole (or at least not as much). Still, I enjoyed watching it and was genuinely curious about where it was going.
GRADE: B
------------------------------------------------------------------------ You can also read this review at: http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-7DA9-1FD5BB3D-39EB8D43-prod3 And other reviews on the same topic at: http://www.epinions.com/mvie Check out my profile page at: http://www.epinions.com/user-chad9976
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