Breast Men (1997)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Lawrence O'Neil

Writer (WGA):

John Stockwell (written by)

Release Date:

13 December 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Tagline:

Two young doctors with a dream of making it big...Really big!

Plot:

A movie about two doctors who created breast implants as it follows them over the years.

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Disfigured Nipples | Holistic | 1980s | Talk Show

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

David Schwimmer	...	Dr. Kevin Saunders
Chris Cooper	...	Dr. William Larson
Emily Procter	...	Laura Pierson
Matt Frewer	...	Gerald Krzemien
Terry O'Quinn	...	Hersch Lawyer
Kathleen Wilhoite	...	Timmi-Jean Lindsey
John Stockwell	...	Robert Renaud
Lisa Marie	...	Vanessa
Louise Fletcher	...	Mrs. Saunders
Michael Cavanaugh	...	Harry
Michael Chieffo	...	Dave
Patrick Cronin	...	Committee Head (as Pat Cronin)
Amanda Foreman	...	Lola
Lyle Lovett	...	Research Scientist
Julie McCullough	...	1970's Head Receptionist

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality and nudity, language and drug use.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:MA (TV rating) | Finland:K-3 | Sweden:11 | UK:18 (video premiere) | USA:R | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Galveston, Texas, USA

Company:

Home Box Office (HBO)

Trivia:

The parking garage scene is filmed from the roof of the Continental Center garage, with a building in the former Enron complex in Houston, Texas visible in the right of the shot.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: The red corvette that is totaled at the end of the film can clearly be seen as a prop for the film instead of a real car in excellent condition that Dr. Saunders would be driving. When it rolls over red overspray can be seen all over the undercarriage indicating a fast and cheap paint job done for prop purposes. Also, when the car rolls over you can clearly see it is missing the fuel tank that should be located at the rear between the mufflers on the exhaust system. Again, this is done for the prop to prep it for the crash scene. It could be said this is a factual error because the car would not have been able to be driven if there is no fuel tank at all. However, this was clearly a crash prop used in place of the real corvette that is in the film.

Quotes:

Terri: Yeah? Well it wasn't so funny to me.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs "Larry King Live" (1985)

Bizarre black comedy/drama

This is a truly odd film, with a style and tone quite unlike any other I've seen; while the first two thirds is darkly comic in a quite gentle, embarrassment-not-pain kind of way, the end descends into a very sombre, serious half hour before the final shocking moment. Presented as a life-story of some (presumably at least semi-fictitious) pioneers of silicon breast enlargement, along with snippets from some "documentary" (real or otherwise, it's not clear) featuring women discussing (and exposing) their breasts, it spans over several decades in a typical up-down-up trajectory. David Schwimmer, looking youthful and a little goofy, plays the lead, a young, ambitious, slightly breast-fixated (here's most of the comedy bits) doctor who comes up with an idea for a new form of breast enhancement. The idea is followed through initial scorn, industrial manipulation, to success and popularity before the hideous problems associated with inserting silicon into the body become clear. Many of the issues involved in the topic are addressed in some form or other, from those who need such surgery due to genuine breast problems down to the question of how far such enhancement can be justified ethically, balancing the desire of women to be perceived as "normal" and attractive against the creation of circus freaks with unnaturally large bosoms. The film does give a good, balanced insight into the subject matter, but the presentation is odd, the mood of the film strangely skewed; neither Schwimmer's lead nor his mentor present particularly likeable characters, the change of tone near the end leaves the viewer with the feeling of having watched a gritty drama rather than the comedy advertised, and the portrayal of women in the piece is far from empowering; those in the film itself are rarely more than caricatures, pairs of breasts to be reconstructed, while the "talking heads" featured in the documentary snippets are more "talking breasts", the lack of faces somehow dehumanising the interviewees and turning them into the freakshow some of them so want to escape (though some are clearly quite happy that their breasts are their defining characteristic). The filmmakers have made a lot of effort here, and it is perhaps a little unfortunate that the balance between humour and serious issue-probing is not well worked. A patchy, interesting but very strange movie which could have been a lot better, it is still worth a watch, but perhaps more as education than entertainment.