Dr. T & The Women

MPAA Rated – R
It’s 2:02 Long
A Review by:
The Dude on the Right

Dr. T & The Women
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: Richard Gere, Helen Hunt, Farrah Fawcett, Laura Dern, Shelley Long, Kate Hudson, Liv Tyler, Tara Reid
MPAA Rated: R
Released By: Artisan Entertainment
Release Date: 2000
Kiddie Movie: Don’t even think about it.
Date Movie: Don’t go with her, let it be a girl’s night out, unless, of course, you want to see Farrah Fawcett’s boobies.
Gratuitous Sex: Farrah shows her boobs, so does Helen, and there’s some sex going on.
Gratuitous Violence: Nah.
Action: Nah.
Laughs: A couple of chuckles.
Memorable Scene: The ending because it sucked.
Memorable Quote: None.
Directed By: Robert Altman

Alright, dudes, don’t let your dudette take you to see “Dr. T & The Women.” Period. You will see the glowing reviews, you will think it can’t be that bad, and your dudette will want to see it because it looks cute, has Richard Gere, and you made her see “Remember the Titans.” But don’t let her take you. Suggest she get together with her gal-pals and make an evening of it. Then let her come back home and when you say “How was the movie?” have her lie to you and say it was great. How’s that for an opening paragraph?

I almost looked forward to seeing “Dr. T & The Women.” It looked kinda cute and yea, maybe a chick-flick, but I can get in touch with my sensitive new-millennium side for a couple of hours and get a chuckle, but then I started seeing review ratings from critics who usually don’t find a funny movie funny but think an artsy movie is the funniest thing since sliced bread. They found “Dr. T…” a great film and I wished I had spent my hard-earned dough on “Ladies Man.”

“Dr. T & The Women” revolves around Dr. Travis (Richard Gere). He’s a gynecologist in Dallas with an upscale clientele. Yup, rich bitches. His life is quickly falling apart as his older daughter, Dee Dee (Kate Hudson) is planning her wedding. Bad things start happening to him like his wife (still looking good Farrah Fawcett) stripping naked and dancing in a fountain at the mall then getting institutionalized, his clientele getting even more uppity, bad luck on the hunting excursions, cheating on his wife with Bree (Helen Hunt) – well, maybe that’s not a really bad thing, but anyway, just a lot of crap keeps happening to him. His younger daughter Connie (Tara Reid), can’t deal with the wedding happening, and for very good reason, and his office manager nurse has the hots for him but doesn’t really show it. All is going to hell for Dr. T, and that’s just the beginning.

I won’t waste any more time on the story line because, well, other than his life going to shit there isn’t one. Alright, sure there is if you get all artsy and symbolic and like seeing rich people made fun of, but for me I was just a hodgepodge of too many people around Dr. T. Yes, Richard Gere was good in his role, I generally always love Helen Hunt and liked her in this movie too, and Farrah was great in playing the truly spacey wife, but this movie was so damn over the place that in the end I just didn’t care. And, oh yea, then there is the symbolic ending complete with tornado and baby being born. I didn’t need to see it, it just seemed stupid, and I know Robert Altman is one for symbolism and artistic films, but give me his M*A*S*H any day over “Dr. T & The Women.”

You will either think this movie is great or think this movie sucks. I thought it sucked. I’ll give it a star for the acting, give it a star for Farrah getting buck-naked in a fountain, give it a star for Helen Hunt and her somewhat nude scene, but take away a star for the stupid ending. Altman should have skipped the tornado and had Dr. T drive his ruined convertible off of the bridge because his life just hit the total bottom.

Adding the stars it’s 2 out of 5. This film could have been great, it had so much potential, but a potentially good movie gets fucked up by a director just making it too artsy.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Alex & Emma

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:36 Long
A Review by:
The Dude on the Right

Alex & Emma
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: Luke Wilson, Kate Hudson, Sophie Marceau
MPAA Rated: PG-13
Released By: Warner Bros.
Kiddie Movie: Girls might like the love story, or just won’t get it.
Date Movie: Guys, it’s only an hour and a half. Indulge her as long as she lets you see “The Hulk.”
Gratuitous Sex: One pretty serious scene, but no nudity.
Gratuitous Violence: The dudes threatening to kill Alex, but you really don’t believe them.
Action: Nah.
Laughs: A few.
Memorable Scene: None.
Memorable Quote: None.
Directed By: Rob Reiner
Produced By: Elie Samaha, Rob Reiner, Alan Greisman, Jeremy Leven, Todd Black

It’s not that I thought “Alex & Emma” sucked, it just seemed to lack a knockout punch, or at least a decent round, to get you wrapped up in the story. It’s almost too cutesy, and once again we get a romantic comedy that pretty much shows women are suckers for groveling men.

Alex (Luke Wilson) has a problem. He’s gambled away his book advance and now owes some Cubans a bunch of cash. He’s got 30 days to finish writing his book so he can get the rest of the advance money so he can pay back the Cubans and not get dead. What does Alex do? Well, he calls a company that sends out stenographers, pretends he works at a law firm, and Emma (Kate Hudson) appears on his doorstep. So here is this woman, on the doorstep of an apartment that makes some slums look like palaces, accepting a job from a guy who says he won’t be able to pay her until the end of 30 days when the book is finished. It seems he wants to dictate the book and have her type it up. Alright, so the initial premise is farfetched, but then comes the rest of the movie.

As Alex is dictating his novel, Emma is always one to chime in with her opinion. Now sometimes this opinion is alright, but mostly it just stops Alex and makes him explain approach to writing a novel. Quickly we are able to see that Alex is telling a story similar to his love life now, except set in 20’s. This is never more apparent than his continuing changing of one of the characters in his story, the au pair, from a bouncy Sweden to a bossy German to a swinging Spaniard, and finally to the sensible Anna. Pretty much the Emma is Anna.

So while Alex is dictating his story, we get movie bits of his novel starring none other than Emma as the au pair and Alex as Adam Shipley, the dude in the story who loves two women. But where is the other woman in Alex’s life? Well, low and behold she shows up to really make Alex’s novel end exactly as he wrote it, as his publisher calls it, bittersweet, because the Adam loses both women.

But can a romantic comedy end on a bittersweet note? No way in hell. As you can easily calculate, even though Emma now seems to hate Alex, well, somehow there will be a twist to get them together in the end.

The movie is totally calculated from beginning to end. We never get a sense of urgency based on Alex’s 30 days to being dead plot, pretty much all Kate Hudson is good at is smiling (but I will admit it is a beautiful smile) and acting goofy, and if you saw Luke Wilson as the movie portrays him, I doubt you would buy him as a romantic comedy writer. It is for these reasons that my only recommendation for “Alex & Emma” is to wait for it as a rental. Guys, you might have to take your lady to this in order to make up for dragging her to “The Hulk,” but be thankful it’s only about an hour and a half long. It’s okay, but in the realm of romantic comedies there is nothing in this one to really remember. 2 stars out of 5 for “Alex & Emma.”

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!