October 12–19, 2000
movie shorts
Dr. T & the Women
More than a little peeved at the reviews which tagged Cookie’s Fortune as "minor Altman," the ever-cranky director has gone to the trouble of offering a preemptive shot across the bow before his latest movie opens. "This is as good as I can do," he’s told interviewers. "If you don’t like this, you don’t like my movies." Well, no it isn’t, and yes I do. Written by Cookie’s screenwriter Anne Rapp, Dr. T is a delirious farce about the beleaguered titular gynecologist (Richard Gere), who’s so popular with the ladies that his life is a living hell. It’s not just clients, either, but his wife (Farrah Fawcett), who’s steadily divorcing herself from reality (and him), his sister (Laura Dern), even his daughter (Kate Hudson). In fact, apart from his manly duck-hunting circle (which includes Robert Hays and Andy Richter), you barely see the good doctor in the company of other men. The idea that women are both men’s blessing and their curse is not exactly a new one, and you can’t help but poke at the frothy meringue of farce to see if there might be just a little more substance lurking beneath. But it’s still a treat, even if the calories are empty.
