Greetings again from the darkness. Alan Rudolph has directed some masterpieces ("Choose Me", "Welcome to L.A.", "Trouble in Mind"), but recently his offerings are mediocre at best. "Dentists" gives us a real life look at the struggles 2 dentists have in keeping their marriage and family from falling apart. It proves that educated people are no smarter than the rest of us when it comes to communicating within a relationship. Most of the time we feel as if we are eavesdropping on things that are probably happening in our own homes or those of our neighbors. It is kinda like being at a party when the hosts start arguing. Do you laugh it off or just excuse yourself? The scenes with the kids are realistic enough, but the whole husband and wife thing gets very tiresome, very quickly. Campbell Scott effectively captures the spirit of a man who thinks that by avoiding the topic, things will improve. Often this role is played by the woman. In this case, the spouse under suspicion is the wife played by the recently too high-profile Hope Davis. I have seen "About Schmidt", "American Splendor" and "The Secret Lives of Dentists" all within the past 6-8 months and let's just say Hope needs to take a vacation. She is so unlikeable on screen - very hard and cold - impossible to root for. Robin Tunney (as the dental assistant) intrigues me as an actress. She's got something and I look forward to seeing her work with some better material. Of course, the best thing in the movie is Denis Leary. He steals every scene he is in and his time at the opera and on the staircase is priceless. Based on Jane Smiley's story "The Age of Grief", this just did not transfer to film very well. Even the kids are obnoxious!
Review of The Secret Lives of Dentists
