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Review by Susan Granger
1½ stars out of 4
Dr. Sullivan Travis (Richard Gere) is an outrageously
successful Dallas gynecologist who genuinely cares for his patients
and dotes on his wife and daughters. His problem: he worships women,
referring to them as "saints. " He's a genuinely nice man, surrounded
by a kaleidoscope of neurotic, mostly unpleasant females. After she's
arrested for cavorting nude in a public fountain, it's obvious that
his wife (Farrah Fawcett) has regressed into a childlike state before
the extravagant society wedding of their cheerleader daughter (Kate
Hudson) who, according to their other daughter (Tara Reid), is having
an affair with her enigmatic maid-of-honor (Liv Tyler). His boozy
sister-in-law (Laura Dern), in the midst of a divorce, has moved in
with her three little girls. And controlling the chaos of his
overbooked practice falls on his adoring office-manager (Shelley
Long). It's no wonder that he flees to the country club, where he
finds solace with the level-headed, briskly independent, new assistant
golf pro (Helen Hunt). Written by Ann Rapp and directed by Robert
Altman, who collaborated on "Cookie's Fortune," this stinging
character study and satiric social commentary with its curiously
twisted ending has a distinctly misogynistic undertone. Certainly, the
vulnerability of a woman with her legs in stirrups during a
gynecological exam is ripe for humor - "That man knows how to handle a
speculum!" - but Richard Gere plays the charming doctor like an
amiable sap who's constantly victimized by the privileged, pampered
shrews who surround him with their shrill cacophony of whining,
demanding voices. Lyle Lovett's honky-tonk score provides welcome
distraction. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Dr. T and the
Women" is a flimsy 4. It's an irreverent, estrogen-enhanced farce that
just isn't very funny.
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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out of 4
