Dr. T and the Women (R, 2000)

Sully Travis (Richard Gere) is known as "Dr. T" to the adoring upper-class women of Dallas. He is a popular gynecologist who loves his patients and all women. He tells his shooting buddies that "by nature they are saints -- they are sacred and should be treated that way." This includes his wife Kate (Farrah Fawcett), his two daughters, Dee dee (Kate Hudson) and Connie (Tara Reid), and his wife's sister Peggy (Laura Dern), who has moved in to his house with her three small daughters.Dr. T strives to protect his women, but they are having problems he cannot solve. Kate is having a mental breakdown; she has retreated into childhood and must be sent to a mental hospital. Connie drives a car with a JFK license plate and conducts conspiracy theory "Grassy Knoll" tours of Dallas. Dee Dee is preparing for her wedding, but the person she is really in love with may be her maid of honor. And Peggy barely hides her sense of desperation behind slightly shrill "Love you more's" and secret snorts of liquor. Dr. T is attracted to a golf pro named Bree (Helen Hunt). He tries to take care of her, too, but she is very independent. When he tells her that he wants to make sure she never has to do anything or worry about anything ever again, she says, "Why would I want that?" Dr. T must relinquish the illusion of control and remember what really matters.

It is a great pleasure to watch director Robert Altman ("M*A*S*H," "Nashville," and many other classic films) and his team do their stuff; DR. T AND THE WOMEN is richly enjoyable. The production design is spectacular, perfectly creating the world of wealthy Dallas. The acting is marvelous. Richard Gere is more relaxed and vulnerable than he has ever been, and Laura Dern is sensational as the desperate divorcee in outfits that would be considered outrageous anywhere outside of Dallas. The movie raises some thoughtful questions about what we can and can't -- and should and shouldn't -- control, with some mystical overtones as Dr. T is told that a wet woman is back luck, and then has to deal with a succession of drenched females. Some will find the ending abrupt, some misogynistic, and some just mystifying. It may be all three -- but it is also moving, and even fitting.