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"&lt;p&gt;Richard Gere&amp;apos;s head rises from a female crotch in the grabber opening shot of &lt;em&gt;Dr. T and the Women.&lt;/em&gt; But don&amp;apos;t get the wrong idea. As Dr. Sullivan Travis, the gynecologist for the most pampered ladies in Dallas, Gere is no office Romeo. Dr. T is a devoted husband to Kate (Farrah Fawcett), a generous dad to Dee Dee (Kate Hudson) and Connie (Tara Reid), and a guy who tells his hunting buddies that women are sacred vessels and, hey, he means it. Then, as Dee Dee&amp;apos;s wedding approaches, Dr. T&amp;apos;s perfect life starts to unravel.&lt;/p&gt;\r\n&lt;wm:embed type=\"related\"&gt;&lt;/wm:embed&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leave it to director Robert Altman, the contrarian wit of &lt;em&gt;M*A*S*H, Nashville, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Player&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Short Cuts,&lt;/em&gt; to take this story of a modern-day Job and make a hugely entertaining party out of it. But make no mistake: Altman sends out no joke without a sting in its tail. The screenplay, by native Texan Anne Rapp, who collaborated with Altman on last year&amp;apos;s underrated &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=\"../../../movies/reviews/cookies-fortune-19990402\"&gt;Cookie&amp;apos;s Fortune&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/em&gt; sets up a series of disasters to test Dr. T&amp;apos;s mettle. First, his wife goes nuts at a shopping mall, dances naked in a fountain and ends up institutionalized. And that&amp;apos;s just after his newly divorced alcoholic sister-in-law, Peggy (Laura Dern), moves into his mansion with her three girls. Then there&amp;apos;s Dr. T&amp;apos;s problems as a father: Daughter Connie is an oddball who works as a tour guide for the JFK Conspiracy Museum, which floats more theories than Oliver Stone. Connie&amp;apos;s theory about cheerleader Dee Dee and her maid of honor, Marilyn (Liv Tyler), sends Dr. T reeling. And now that Kate is out to lunch, nurse Carolyn (Shelley Long), who manages Dr. T&amp;apos;s office, tries to manage herself into his bed.&lt;/p&gt;\r\n&lt;p&gt;What&amp;apos;s an overbooked OBGYN to do with a life so crowded with estrogen and incident? It helps that Bree (Helen Hunt), the new golf pro at Dr. T&amp;apos;s club, eases him into a no-strings affair. It&amp;apos;s Dr. T who starts feeling dependent. Things come to a head on Dee Dee&amp;apos;s wedding day, when a Texas storm is only slightly more volatile than Dr. T and his guests.&lt;/p&gt;\r\n&lt;p&gt;Altman revels in throwing these characters into a pot and stirring with wicked glee. And he takes his time about it. The relaxed drift of Altman&amp;apos;s direction may be off-putting to short attention spans. But go with him, and watch the actors blossom. Hudson, a new star after &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=\"../../../movies/reviews/almost-famous-20000914\"&gt;Almost Famous&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/em&gt; is smashing as a repressed daddy&amp;apos;s girl who dares to stretch her sexual wings; her scenes with Tyler have a tart poignancy. Reid is a dynamo, and Fawcett makes the most of a brief but telling role &amp;#x2013; Kate&amp;apos;s been infantilized by a husband who keeps her in a posh pumpkin shell. Hunt, who can be rigid when the material is off (see &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=\"../../../movies/reviews/twister-19960517\"&gt;Twister&lt;/a&gt;),&lt;/em&gt; gives a loose, sexy performance with a flash of nudity that doesn&amp;apos;t feel forced. But the true scene-stealers are Dern and Long. As a Texas belle trying to dull her pain with booze, Dern finds the grieving core in a character that a lesser actress would play for facile laughs. And Long invigorates the clich&amp;#xE9;d role of love-starved Carolyn. Altman will be hammered for a scene in which Carolyn, alone with Dr. T in his office, strips off her clothes while his back is turned to shock him into sex. Has Altman debased the character and the actress? Hardly. Long shows Carolyn&amp;apos;s reserves of strength. And what of the cackling, primping Dallas princesses who make Dr. T&amp;apos;s office a circle of hell that Dante never investigated? Altman has a giggle at their expense, but he also sees their humor and gallantry. To call &lt;em&gt;Dr. T&lt;/em&gt; gorgeously acted would be an understatement.&lt;/p&gt;\r\n&lt;p&gt;Still, the film belongs to Gere, who has never been this funny, this warm or this emotionally exposed onscreen. Dr. T spends the early part of the film wearing blinders. The disasters that befall the handsome, once-impervious Dr. T force him to probe areas of feminine mystery you can&amp;apos;t find with a speculum. Just as Job suffered without losing his faith in God, Dr. T suffers without losing his faith in women.&lt;/p&gt;\r\n&lt;p&gt;Altman orchestrates Dr. T&amp;apos;s odyssey with the precision, heart and lively wit of a virtuoso. The director, now seventy-five, knows he has as much to learn about women as Dr. T &amp;#x2013; the fun comes in trying. Altman ends his movie with two forces of nature &amp;#x2013; miracles, if you will &amp;#x2013; that defy explanation. Whether you find that ending a masterstroke or a maddening annoyance, you won&amp;apos;t leave &lt;em&gt;Dr. T and the Women&lt;/em&gt; without feeling challenged. In an age of digital cinema that seems untouched by human hands, I&amp;apos;d call that bliss.&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/dr-t-and-the-women-20001013>