Dr
T And The Women is supposed to be a "biting satire of
an upper-class elitist Dallas community" starring Richard
Gere, Helen Hunt, Farrah Fawcett and Laura Dern.
Paul Sims
It is
all that but to be honest as a film it's only a mediocre biting
satire. Don't
get me wrong it's pretty clever in places but sometimes you
felt that skilled actors and actresses were left with very
little to do.
Basically
what we have here is Richard Gere playing Dr. Sullivan Travis
(the Dr T of the title). He鈥檚 the gynaecologist of choice
for the women of the area - young and old alike.
|
Just
two of Dr T's women |
He's a
man at the top of his profession, whose "religion" is women.
Dr T worships women. He calls them saints. In
his immediate family and in his office they surround him,
constantly fussing around him and for his attention.
As the
film progresses an overly busy work schedule and various family
dilemmas start to boil over caused by the women he once treasured.
Dr T now finds himself buffeted by chaos and confusion.
|
A
kiss for Dr T |
Although
the film was amusing there were definitely no laugh out loud
moments. The dark undertones running through the film of deviant
behaviour and chaos, though, were enjoyable and well played
by key actors.
|
I'm
as bemused as Dr T now |
Although
not necessarily the sort of film I鈥檇 watch by choice, I must
admit I found myself pleasantly surprised by this modern fable.
Director
Robert Altman does some fine juggling keeping all the threads
of the story separate until he needs them and leaving us with
a rather simple (if unbelievably optimistic) message at the
end.
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