Review of Dr. T & the Women (2000) by Caleb M — 10 Sep 2009

(spoilers contained herein) An exceptionally rewarding film that seems to get passed over as one of Altman's lesser works (which I can't really argue against sine this is only my fourth Altman film so far). I will say that Dr. T and the Women packs a powerful and ironic humor in it's message about societal expectations of women, their mystery and the desire to escape. It certainly has its fair share of flaws, yet it manages to, in most cases, take those flaws and incorporate them in with its characters and themes instead of just ignoring or not realizing them.

Although this film is filled with fine female performances, to my surprise, I found Tara Reid's performance downright charming and down-to-earth. She has one or two scenes with Gere that help us believe he is truly as approachable and willing to understand others. Fawcett's performance has some delights as well, and hers is a role that could easily have been done in a much more cloying, simple way. Hudson has some scenes of her own where she shines and Shelly Long has a revealing and humorous scene of her own.

My only true problem with Dr. T and the Women is Helen Hunt. Every role I have seen her in since As Good As It Gets (and probably before) Hunt has played the same character or a variation of the same character: the smart, knowing, wise, down-to-earth, "independent" (I use quotations because her independence seems to be the hollow, fabricated independence we only see women achieve in Hollywood fantasies) women who cannot be "tied down" by anyone or anything and subsequently seems to lead men on with impossibly too-good-to-be-true romantic affairs.

In fact, Altman takes the character Hunt has played before, teasingly leading us to a typical "happy ending" in which she and Gere end up together, and totally reverses it. In their final scene,.

Gere pleads with Hunt to run away with him, a young romantic fantasy she cannot be crippled by. Telling him rather matter-of-factly she says she does not belong to anyone and is her own person (although Gere's Dr. T shouldn't have expected a happy ending, given that he first met Hunt's character after she had been soaked by the rain, and as his hunting buddies say, meeting a woman for the first time when she is wet is baaaad luck). While showing us that Hunt's character isn't just there for Gere to feel "happy" (Gere tells Hunt in an earlier scene he is a "very happy man") but is an individual with her own ideas, plans and ambitions. However, Altman does not leave Gere to sulk in his own self-pity at not being with the "perfect woman", ha! Does anyone really buy the ending of AS Good AS It Gets where Hunt and Jack Nicholson supposedly end up together? No! That film encourages the empty Hollywood fantasy that we (men) can have the perfect woman who will complete our lives by not only loving us, but by telling us ff when we are wrong or act out (which is basically the same fantasy Hollywood injects in most female-targeted romances albeit with the gender roles tweaked and reversed). Instead, Altman takes us on a surreal journey that brought immediately to my mind both the opening of Fellini's 8 1/2 and the twister scene in The Wizard of Oz, concluding in a final scene involving a childbirth in a small spanish-speaking village. What is the sex of the child being born? Dr. T has been surrounded by women throughout the entire film; he treats them, respects them, tries to understand them, and loves all of them, and the village he drops into seems to be populated by only women. He is the lone man as far as the eye can see, so when he helps bring a young boy into the world, his joy at not being alone among a seemingly unending sea of mind-bending confusing women is profound and ironic and enlightening.

However, Richard Gere is required to tie this film together. Gere is the man you want when you need a sweet yet professional guy like this.

Dr. T and the Women maintains an even, some might say slow, pace, but towards the end Altman throws us a botched wedding, a storm, Gere's spur-of-the-moment proposal and an astonishingly captivating, dreamlike sequence involving Gere trying to escape it all. The ending hits a great note of lighthearted, ironic humor, and I was left feeling very satisfied.

I really, really enjoyed this. Borderline loved it.

Still hate Helen Hunt though ;).