The Secret Lives of Dentists | | Cast : | Campbell Scott, Denis Leary, Hope Davis | | Director : | Alan Rudolph | | Studio : | Columbia Tristar Hom | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | January 01, 2002 | | DVD Released Date : | January 27, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 06, 2005 | | Summary | Will he cope or go over the edge? | Content
 | David Hurst(Campbell Scott) and his wife Dana (Hope Davis) are a husband and wife dentist team. They share a practice and, seemingly have a happy marriage. David has a patient who seems a little off kilter. Later, as he attends an opera in which Dana has a bit part, he sees her backstage in the arms of another man. He begins to hallucinate as this strange, hostile patient, played by Dennis Leary, becomes his alter ego, giving him advice on how to deal with his wife and three young daughters. There is a lot for him to cope with. It is not clear whether Dana has been sexually unfaithful but, in David's mind, she was. Meanwhile, raising his daughters is a challenge, icluding bouts with the flu in which all members of the family, one by one, have vomiting fits.
His hallucinations of this alter ego cause him to straddle a very fine line between coping and going over the edge. He was in a troubled marriage and the "advice" from the patient may have been the only way he could deal with the stress. On the other hand, as he followed the advice, he exhibited behavior which was inappropriate and bordered on the dangerous. This movie is suspenseful in that it is never clear, until the end, whether David will become dangerously detached from reality or whether his coping mechanism will enable him to get his life and marriage back together.
If you like offbeat, comedy/dramas with a dark side, I recommend this DVD.
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| Rating | | | Date | February 13, 2005 | | Summary | How about you analyze this? | Content
| Watched this movie twice, going back and forth between the scenes. Trying to find a tangible clue, did she have an affair..or not? Was this affair emotional or physical or both? My husband and I both discussed this. Comparing the movie with our married friends lives, as well as our own, we saw a true depiction of how a mariage can grow stale and not meet our preconceived notions.
I can only believe that individually we are responsible for our own personal growth, our happiness. When you marry, that is the person they will always be, no matter what the changes in life, deep down. We have had examples, methods etc. that we adapt as we go along but you cannot expect to change someone. You will be sorely disappointed.
Unfortunately, we don't always grow at the same pace and same direction. It can either make, break, or promise an endless sadness and dream of "what could be."
We have to get real and be responsible for our own happiness. No one else can do it for us.
Thought the movie very thought provoking. I will remember it. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 01, 2004 | | Summary | Modern Father Knows Best | Content
| I was amazingly moved and impressed by this movie -- but only after I finished watching it. During the movie, it does plod at an incredibly petty pace, to quote the Bard. But after the picture was over, I realized that the laborious pace of the film reflected the lives of these two characters.
I was greatly impressed by Campbell Scott in the TV movie with Christine Lahti called "The Pilot's Wife." As a result, I tuned into the fact that he is the son of George C. Scott & Colleen Dewhurst, although one can't really see that by his looks. He's also worked in "The Spanish Prisoner," "The Imposters" & "Lush." His career has grown as he's begun to also produce films, as he does here on this project.
The thing that I came to so value about this movie was how excellently it reflects on the reality of a man who dearly loves being a husband & father. It is not always easy, nor is it always glorious & romantic, just as this film was neither of these. Lost in the march of life, the husband's fantasies help him to work his way through his life. There's one scene where fantasy Dennis Leary asks David Hurst (Campbell Scott) why he's doing this. Hurst replies that he went to college, studied dentistry and worked hard just so he could have this. He says it even though he's in the midst of a highly emotional trauma in his marriage. It seemed so utterly real to me and incredibly poignant.
The other thing I came to value about this film was how important a father's role is in a family and how good of a caregiver a dedicated father can be to his children. Yes, the whole ongoing flu sequences were laborious and seemed to be a trail of never-ending vomit, but through it all Hurst never wavers in his dedication to his wife or his kids, even when he feels so very ill. For me, this reflected the strength of a father's love. I think Campbell Scott wonderfully portrayed this aspect of the film.
His wife, Dana Hurst, is played by Hope Davis who has been in "Daytrippers," "Next Stop Wonderland," "Kiss of Death" with Nicholas Cage & "About Schmidt." I found disturbing her detachment from her children, but came to understand that she was also going through a tremendous crisis of identity. Whether her amateur opera acting was a ploy for outside interests or to find romantic stimulation, I don't know. But for me the climax of the movie, which came without thunder, was all the more powerful. David Hurst says that he has just one question, "Are you staying or leaving?" For all else, he can forgive. She says, "I'm staying." And that is the climax. For Hurst, it's enough, all he's wanted. As a parting shot, he says that he wants to know who it was, but not what they did.
Dennis Learly was adept at being obnoxious. As he moved from the dental chair to David Hurst's fantasy life, he executed it flawlessly. The deleted scene on the DVD where Leary scrubs Hurst's back in the bathtub was appropriately cut since it suggests a rather strange fantasy, which is not where the film was headed. But the outtakes are a hoot! Robin Tunney as the dental assistant has a small but valuable role in the script. The children all do excellent jobs. The youngest provides great comic relief by slapping those that distress her.
All in all, I wound up loving this film. I was about ready to turn it off several times, but I'm glad I hung with it. Enjoy! |
| Rating | | | Date | October 22, 2004 | | Summary | Clever | Content
| The phenomanal acting by the entire cast is what really made this film special.
A family headed by two dentists, who share an office, begins to fall apart, when the husband discovers the wife is cheating on him. Dennis Leary, who is an obnoxious patient of the husband, becomes an invisble friend to him and tries to convince him to leave the unfaithful wife.
A very moving piece that does not overdo itself. Campbell Scott and Hope Davis were brilliant! |
| Rating | | | Date | October 17, 2004 | | Summary | Engaging | Content
| THE SECRET LIVES OF DENTISTS is perfect: incredibly realistic, if downbeat. The idea is that a the protagonist thinks his wife is cheating on him; only, his being incredibly passive, he's unable to say anything.
And it's done well. Campbell's passive, repressed character is written and acted perfectly, as is Davis' character, who's so clearly bored with her life, and with her husband.
But beyond that, the entire film gives the feeling that the events of the movie, while excruciating for the characters themselves, isn't especially significant: a week in the lives of a married couple.
The image from early in the movie of Campbell standing in a doorway, with Davis fanning herself to his left, seperated by a wall, should serve as a summary of this film. |
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