Despite all the work they have done during their careers, very few viewers will have even seen anything that Campbell Scott or Hope Davis has appeared in, or for that matter very little of what Alan Rudolph has directed. Which is probably a good thing because "The Secret Lives of Dentists" is supposed to reach out to viewers with a relatively typical marriage they can relate to, and the identification process is aided by using actors with little historical baggage to get in the way.
This is an ordinary story more suited to its original form, a novelette ("The Age of Grief") by Jane Smiley. As a film this type story is simply boring. Recognizing this reality, the screenwriter and the director tried using movie storytelling devices like flashbacks, visions, and slow motion. While these do make things more interesting, they also create confusion, as the younger "flashback" Dave (Scott) is sometimes hard to distinguish from his visions of Dana's lovers. Also it is often hard to distinguish (out of context) what is flashback, vision, and reality. Blame both the director and the postproduction people because the only visual difference is a slight blench processing of the regular film stock for the visions (giving them less color and more contrast) and the use of cross-processed reversal film stock for the flashbacks (giving them slightly brighter colors).
Compound this by recurrent appearances in the reality segments of Dave's alter ego Slater (Denis Leary), an angry patient who frequently has on-screen conversations with Dave, these jump start Dave's passive-aggressive personality. Other than Dave, only Stephanie (the middle daughter) ever actually see the fantasy Slater, and only in her flu fever delirium. She orders her dad's ghosts to leave ("it's my house") which causes her father to stop the Slater manifestations soon after.
The writers are big on using dental issues as metaphors for marriage and life. The main one of these involves Slater's wisdom teeth, which are coming in all wrong. He refuses to get them pulled, they are not so bad that they cannot continue to be ignored. Likewise the marriage could go on as long as Dave and Dana avoid confronting and dealing with the suspected affair.
While some viewers will really connect with this film, mainstream viewers will be either bored or irritated. Bored because this is a minimalist movie that was made that way to illustrate the idea that marriage is all about the details-unfortunately most of these details are boring. Irritating because the story requires that neither Dave nor Dana be particularly likable or admirable. Both performances are solid but Scott can't really show much of what Dave is really about even though the story is told from his point of view, he can be interpreted as both hero and coward, making a sympathetic audience connection generally impossible. Likewise Davis is not permitted to portray Dana as anything but the subject of yet another fruitless examination of the mysteries of female discontent. It is a nice role for Davis as see contrasts Dana's rapture with performing in the local opera (Verdi's "Nabucco") with the pervasive boredom of her real life.
The film's saviors are the three little actresses who play the couple's children. Credit the writer and director for capturing what is arguably the most realistic portrayal of children in any film. Children under age ten have little mastery of the acting craft, while these girls are no exception they obviously brought a professional dedication to their involvement and somehow each just got it. Rudolph knows how to direct them and how to stay within their limitations. I particularly enjoyed Leah, the youngest greeting her father with repeated "Hi Dad's" until he finally focused his attention on her.
This is an ordinary story more suited to its original form, a novelette ("The Age of Grief") by Jane Smiley. As a film this type story is simply boring. Recognizing this reality, the screenwriter and the director tried using movie storytelling devices like flashbacks, visions, and slow motion. While these do make things more interesting, they also create confusion, as the younger "flashback" Dave (Scott) is sometimes hard to distinguish from his visions of Dana's lovers. Also it is often hard to distinguish (out of context) what is flashback, vision, and reality. Blame both the director and the postproduction people because the only visual difference is a slight blench processing of the regular film stock for the visions (giving them less color and more contrast) and the use of cross-processed reversal film stock for the flashbacks (giving them slightly brighter colors).
Compound this by recurrent appearances in the reality segments of Dave's alter ego Slater (Denis Leary), an angry patient who frequently has on-screen conversations with Dave, these jump start Dave's passive-aggressive personality. Other than Dave, only Stephanie (the middle daughter) ever actually see the fantasy Slater, and only in her flu fever delirium. She orders her dad's ghosts to leave ("it's my house") which causes her father to stop the Slater manifestations soon after.
The writers are big on using dental issues as metaphors for marriage and life. The main one of these involves Slater's wisdom teeth, which are coming in all wrong. He refuses to get them pulled, they are not so bad that they cannot continue to be ignored. Likewise the marriage could go on as long as Dave and Dana avoid confronting and dealing with the suspected affair.
While some viewers will really connect with this film, mainstream viewers will be either bored or irritated. Bored because this is a minimalist movie that was made that way to illustrate the idea that marriage is all about the details-unfortunately most of these details are boring. Irritating because the story requires that neither Dave nor Dana be particularly likable or admirable. Both performances are solid but Scott can't really show much of what Dave is really about even though the story is told from his point of view, he can be interpreted as both hero and coward, making a sympathetic audience connection generally impossible. Likewise Davis is not permitted to portray Dana as anything but the subject of yet another fruitless examination of the mysteries of female discontent. It is a nice role for Davis as see contrasts Dana's rapture with performing in the local opera (Verdi's "Nabucco") with the pervasive boredom of her real life.
The film's saviors are the three little actresses who play the couple's children. Credit the writer and director for capturing what is arguably the most realistic portrayal of children in any film. Children under age ten have little mastery of the acting craft, while these girls are no exception they obviously brought a professional dedication to their involvement and somehow each just got it. Rudolph knows how to direct them and how to stay within their limitations. I particularly enjoyed Leah, the youngest greeting her father with repeated "Hi Dad's" until he finally focused his attention on her.