Dr. Travis (Richard Gere with a white-haired dye job) is a Dallas gynecologist with an exclusive clientele. His wife Kate (Farrah Fawcett) has a public meltdown -- she takes off all of her clothing and steps into a fountain -- and winds up institutionalized, after which he embarks on an affair with new golf club employee, Bree (Helen Hunt of Empire Falls). Meanwhile his family and patients are bothering him with an assortment of problems: nurse Carolyn (Shelley Long) is secretly in love with Dr. T, and his daughter, Dee Dee (Kate Hudson of The Skeleton Key), has invited her former female lover (Liv Tyler) to her wedding (to a man) as maid of honor; Dee Dee's sister thinks the marriage is a mistake, for obvious reasons. [Bree has a supposedly open-minded but pretty stupid reaction to this whole rather contrived business.] Other cast members include Lee Grant as a shrink; Andy Richter, who makes no impression, as a buddy; Janine Turner as a neurotic patient; and Laura Dern. In its treatment of the lesbian couple the movie strikes some liberated, if awkward, sparks, but somehow it still seems old-fashioned and unsatisfying, although it's more watchable than a lot of Altman's[Popeye] movies. One interesting sequence graphically shows the miracle of child birth.
Verdict: Typically rambling and unfocused Altman with some good scenes and okay acting. **1/2.
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