Director Robert Altman stumbles at the gate with alarming accuracy: every third or fourth film is something special, and the rest of his output is in complete disarray. Think of "Dr. T" as Exhibit A. Messy misfire about a popular gynecologist (Richard Gere) in Texas, his clientèle, unstable wife (Farrah Fawcett) and a new potential girlfriend (Helen Hunt, unable to free herself from sitcom shtick). There's an awful lot of talent in and around this movie, but no amount manages to make it to the screen. The script is so thin as to be nonexistent, while the characters are poorly conceived. Altman doesn't allow the scenes to take shape, to play out (all of Fawcett's moments, for instance, are chopped short before anything can develop). It's movie-making in shorthand, a laughless comedy-drama which turns fine actresses like Shelley Long, Liv Tyler and Lee Grant into incompetent ninnies. NO STARS from ****
Review of Dr. T & the Women
