Dr T. & the Women

Dr Travis (Richard Gere) is a Dallas-based gynaecologist, and a remarkably popular one at that. He always has a well-packed waiting room full of adoring patients, as he's apparently so incredibly considerate and is renowned for seeing women as being sacred. He has a wife, Kate (Farrah Fawcett), and two daughters, Connie (Tara Reid) and the soon to be wedded Dee Dee (Kate Hudson).

After shedding her clothes and dancing naked in a fountain (hey, they do call it a shopping strip!), Kate is sent off to an institution and diagnosed with "Hestia Complex", a malaise that apparently affects rich women who have everything, making them regress to a childlike state. The supposedly madly-in-love-with-her Dr T is so completely concerned about her welfare that within days after a little bonding over golf shoes he's having an affair with a newly arrived assistant golf pro chick from his club, Bree (Helen Hunt, appropriately named after a type of cheese).

Meanwhile, wedding plans ensue, there's some blokey male bonding and one doozie of a storm. There's not a lot more I can say plot-wise, as somewhere somebody seemingly forgot to put one in. What this does smack of however is some sort of hideous male fantasy-fest, where the guys are the laidback sages, and the women are all portrayed as gaggling, catty ditzes with all manner of obsessive hang-ups. It comes complete with boobs, bums, bods and assorted other girlie bits, and even a lesbian dalliance which so many blokes seem to find so incredibly exciting (but change it to two guys and watch the tables and tummies turn...)

In the end (and what a nonsensical end it is too) Dr T just wanted to get away from it all, after managing to sit through this I know exactly how he felt.

Dr T and the Women is delivered to us in its original cinematic ratio of 2.35:1 and is anamorphically enhanced - so far so good. However, a film as recent as this should not suffer from any visual glitches, yet somehow this still manages it. There are a large number of little black and white flecks throughout the duration of the film, and even the occasional large one. There are also a few occurrences of shimmying in certain scenes that are quite noticeable.

Other than that it's all quite acceptable, the colour is perfectly fine, as are black levels, contrast and sharpness, although there is some conspicuous minor edge enhancement at times.

The layer change occurs between two scenes, which is perfectly fine, however it is another of those that doesn’t seem to have taken the soundtrack into account, so it is incredibly obvious.

There's one mix to play with here, Dolby 5.1. As is Altman's habit this is a very talky film, so really the only opportunity for the surrounds and subwoofwoof to get a workout is during a quite fabulous storm towards the end of the film - assuming you can stay awake that long. Other than that a couple of gunshots leant a little oomph to proceedings early on, sadly though they missed me.

Synching isn’t an issue, and generally the dialogue levels are fine, although the many scenes with most everybody on screen talking over each other at once were often times enough to have me agonisingly tearing my hair out.

The soundtrack is a Good Ol' Boys, both-kinds-of-music style geetaw-fest experience courtesy of Lyle Lovett. This is so not my my cup of tea at all, but if to you it don’t mean a thang if it ain't got that twang then you should be as happy as a hog rollin' around in poop.

Well, whereas the region 1 release has everything from interviews to a commentary and more, here in region 4 we're obviously not considered worthy enough of such an effort, as all we get is a trailer. It's presented in a ratio of 1.85:1 with only Dolby Stereo sound, and does it's job better than fine as a trailer as it actually makes the film look rather interesting and entertaining. Now what's the telephone number for the Advertising Standards Council?!

Robert Altman has been responsible for some good films in his career. The ordeal that is Dr T and the Women certainly isn't one of them.

Saved only marginally by a remarkable, yet mostly wasted ensemble cast, this is a substandard film on a substandard DVD release. Unless your attitude is "yay for misogyny!" my advice would be to avoid, avoid, avoid.