I remember when this movie hit the theatres "hmm, looks like a fairly decent date movie/romantic comedy"...but something I'd most likely wait to rent on DVD.
I'm here to tell you that it wasn't even NEARLY worth the wait. The story is convoluted, slow paced, makes no sense, unbelievable events happen, it begins to touch on character development but then just...stops.
"Dr. T" stars Richard Gere (who I liked most in "An Officer and A Gentleman") and a well known supporting cast (Helen Hunt, Shelley Long, Janine Turner, Farrah Fawcett, Robert Hays, Andy Richter, Laura Dern, Kate Hudson, and Liv Tyler). It was directed by Robert Altman. I didn't even bother reading credits after it was over but, judging from the situations and dialog, I'd guess this was supposed to be an adaptation of somebody's novel. I think it's supposed to be a satire about Dallas' "nouveau riche", and how one Gynecologist must deal with all these various women (patients, co-workers, and family) in Texas high society.
(Spoilers Below) The first 3/4 of the movie were barely tolerable. Characters are introduced in the first 15 minutes, and we quickly learn to care less about anything that happens to these people for the rest of the movie. They aren't interesting, they aren't developed well, and I could hardly figure out anyone's motivations. For example: Peggy (Laura Dern) apparently has a drinking problem. She's seen drinking wine and champagne throughout the movie, occasionally slurs, and even has one scene where she stumbles and falls in the good Doctor's office...and then that's it. We don't learn anymore about her or her drinking problem than that. Another example: Connie (Tara Reid) keeps telling her dad (Richard Gere) that "everything's okay with me...really, it is." at various times in the movie. For no reason at all. We have no knowledge of why she's saying that or any evidence that there's something else going on and she's really not okay and she's actually about to kill herself or something. There are many other instances such as these in the movie and it makes you say "huh?" more than a few times.
In almost every scene involving 3 or more women throughout the entire movie, Robert Altman used some trick where he'd have all of the women talking at the same time, and would choreograph the scene so that you could still (more or less) follow the storyline. At first, it was mildly amusing to see all these women talking at once in the Doctor's office. After about the tenth time seeing women clucking infernally like hens in the Mall, the Dress store, Tiffany's, a bridal shower, etc, it became a teeth-clenching chore to watch and made me want to rip out somebody's larnyx just so they'd shutup. Hey, Altman, ever heard of "enough is enough"?
Farrah Fawcett plays Dr. T's wife Kate, who goes crazy and strips naked in the mall, dancing around in the fountain at the beginning of the movie. She's eventually put into a mental hospital, where she stays throughout the rest of the movie. Nothing really happens with her and Dr. T never really shows much interest in trying to understand what's wrong with his wife or help her in any way. Instead, he ends up cheating on her with Bree (Helen Hunt), a golf instructor new to the town.
If the first 3/4 of the movie was barely tolerable, the last 1/4 was absolutely, positively ludicrous. Let me tell you what happens, and you tell me if it sounds plausible:
1. At Daughter Dee Dee's (Kate Hudson's) outdoor wedding she suddenly decides, while standing at the altar, that she wants to be with her lesbian lover Marilyn (Liv Tyler) instead of marry her boyfriend.
2. Meanwhile, it just started to rain on the wedding party. And not just any rain...a huge, stormy, thundering downpour. (seems to me that somebody having a outdoor wedding would have paid at least mild attention to the weather reports for their wedding day)
3. While everyone is scrambling for cover from the rain, Carolyn (Shelley Long), Dr. T's long time office manager, runs up to him and says "I've always wanted to be a pastry chef, so I'm quitting my job". Uh, right. This event doesn't seem the least bit preposterously stupid or out of place, does it?
4. Dr. T suddenly decides that he wants to spend the rest of his life with Bree, whom he has known for maybe 2 or 3 romantic evenings. He rushes from the wedding, jumps in his car and drives to her house to tell her the good news. She rebuffs him, however, and he leaves in a huff.
5. He's so upset about this ill turn of events that he drives out into the raging storm, where (inexplicably) there are no other cars on the usually crowded freeways around Dallas.
6. But wait! Now he's suddenly driving toward a...a...TORNADO! Yes, that's right, no tornado watches in Texas, apparently, just a instant tornado. It get's better, though.
7. He and his car get swept up in the tornado, twirled around so many times, then apparently dropped down somewhere in MEXICO! (so this tornado carried him at least 800 miles from Dallas to Mexico? bwahahaha!). Anyway, the storm clears.
8. Some time later, 3 little spanish speaking girls find him laying near his car and they help him get to his feet (YOU MEAN HE'S STILL ALIVE?????????) and take him to their village where, as luck would have it, THE VILLAGERS HAPPEN TO NEED A GYNECOLOGIST JUST THIS VERY MINUTE! One of the local girls is having a baby and, even though none of them speak english (and he doesn't speak spanish) they all just happen to know he's a gynecologist, they let him come into their house, and wait for him to deliver the girl's baby (methinks that maybe they would have already had arrangements in place to have this baby delivered. I mean, they've had 9 months to organize themselves, right? Or maybe they were just expecting a gynecologist to magically fall out of the sky at the right moment).
whew! This was absolutely unbelievable. What am I supposed to think about this movie, especially after the embarrassingly stupid ending?
I thinks it stinks, and I'm going to hold a grudge for a long time about wasting my $4 and 2 hours on this horrible piece of junk movie.
How could people have seriously given this movie a 5 out of 10 rating?? OMG, I feel like I'm doing charity just by giving this stinker a 1 out of 10 rating!
-JamesDee
I'm here to tell you that it wasn't even NEARLY worth the wait. The story is convoluted, slow paced, makes no sense, unbelievable events happen, it begins to touch on character development but then just...stops.
"Dr. T" stars Richard Gere (who I liked most in "An Officer and A Gentleman") and a well known supporting cast (Helen Hunt, Shelley Long, Janine Turner, Farrah Fawcett, Robert Hays, Andy Richter, Laura Dern, Kate Hudson, and Liv Tyler). It was directed by Robert Altman. I didn't even bother reading credits after it was over but, judging from the situations and dialog, I'd guess this was supposed to be an adaptation of somebody's novel. I think it's supposed to be a satire about Dallas' "nouveau riche", and how one Gynecologist must deal with all these various women (patients, co-workers, and family) in Texas high society.
(Spoilers Below) The first 3/4 of the movie were barely tolerable. Characters are introduced in the first 15 minutes, and we quickly learn to care less about anything that happens to these people for the rest of the movie. They aren't interesting, they aren't developed well, and I could hardly figure out anyone's motivations. For example: Peggy (Laura Dern) apparently has a drinking problem. She's seen drinking wine and champagne throughout the movie, occasionally slurs, and even has one scene where she stumbles and falls in the good Doctor's office...and then that's it. We don't learn anymore about her or her drinking problem than that. Another example: Connie (Tara Reid) keeps telling her dad (Richard Gere) that "everything's okay with me...really, it is." at various times in the movie. For no reason at all. We have no knowledge of why she's saying that or any evidence that there's something else going on and she's really not okay and she's actually about to kill herself or something. There are many other instances such as these in the movie and it makes you say "huh?" more than a few times.
In almost every scene involving 3 or more women throughout the entire movie, Robert Altman used some trick where he'd have all of the women talking at the same time, and would choreograph the scene so that you could still (more or less) follow the storyline. At first, it was mildly amusing to see all these women talking at once in the Doctor's office. After about the tenth time seeing women clucking infernally like hens in the Mall, the Dress store, Tiffany's, a bridal shower, etc, it became a teeth-clenching chore to watch and made me want to rip out somebody's larnyx just so they'd shutup. Hey, Altman, ever heard of "enough is enough"?
Farrah Fawcett plays Dr. T's wife Kate, who goes crazy and strips naked in the mall, dancing around in the fountain at the beginning of the movie. She's eventually put into a mental hospital, where she stays throughout the rest of the movie. Nothing really happens with her and Dr. T never really shows much interest in trying to understand what's wrong with his wife or help her in any way. Instead, he ends up cheating on her with Bree (Helen Hunt), a golf instructor new to the town.
If the first 3/4 of the movie was barely tolerable, the last 1/4 was absolutely, positively ludicrous. Let me tell you what happens, and you tell me if it sounds plausible:
1. At Daughter Dee Dee's (Kate Hudson's) outdoor wedding she suddenly decides, while standing at the altar, that she wants to be with her lesbian lover Marilyn (Liv Tyler) instead of marry her boyfriend.
2. Meanwhile, it just started to rain on the wedding party. And not just any rain...a huge, stormy, thundering downpour. (seems to me that somebody having a outdoor wedding would have paid at least mild attention to the weather reports for their wedding day)
3. While everyone is scrambling for cover from the rain, Carolyn (Shelley Long), Dr. T's long time office manager, runs up to him and says "I've always wanted to be a pastry chef, so I'm quitting my job". Uh, right. This event doesn't seem the least bit preposterously stupid or out of place, does it?
4. Dr. T suddenly decides that he wants to spend the rest of his life with Bree, whom he has known for maybe 2 or 3 romantic evenings. He rushes from the wedding, jumps in his car and drives to her house to tell her the good news. She rebuffs him, however, and he leaves in a huff.
5. He's so upset about this ill turn of events that he drives out into the raging storm, where (inexplicably) there are no other cars on the usually crowded freeways around Dallas.
6. But wait! Now he's suddenly driving toward a...a...TORNADO! Yes, that's right, no tornado watches in Texas, apparently, just a instant tornado. It get's better, though.
7. He and his car get swept up in the tornado, twirled around so many times, then apparently dropped down somewhere in MEXICO! (so this tornado carried him at least 800 miles from Dallas to Mexico? bwahahaha!). Anyway, the storm clears.
8. Some time later, 3 little spanish speaking girls find him laying near his car and they help him get to his feet (YOU MEAN HE'S STILL ALIVE?????????) and take him to their village where, as luck would have it, THE VILLAGERS HAPPEN TO NEED A GYNECOLOGIST JUST THIS VERY MINUTE! One of the local girls is having a baby and, even though none of them speak english (and he doesn't speak spanish) they all just happen to know he's a gynecologist, they let him come into their house, and wait for him to deliver the girl's baby (methinks that maybe they would have already had arrangements in place to have this baby delivered. I mean, they've had 9 months to organize themselves, right? Or maybe they were just expecting a gynecologist to magically fall out of the sky at the right moment).
whew! This was absolutely unbelievable. What am I supposed to think about this movie, especially after the embarrassingly stupid ending?
I thinks it stinks, and I'm going to hold a grudge for a long time about wasting my $4 and 2 hours on this horrible piece of junk movie.
How could people have seriously given this movie a 5 out of 10 rating?? OMG, I feel like I'm doing charity just by giving this stinker a 1 out of 10 rating!
-JamesDee