Susan Granger’s review of “DR. T AND THE WOMEN” (Artisan Entertainment)
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.
