The Secret Lives of Dentists
Director: Alan Rudolph
Year Released: 2002
Rating: 3.0
Investigation of the slowly decaying marriage between a husband and wife dentist duo - she (Hope Davis) runs around on him (or so we're led to believe) while he (Campbell Scott) has to play Mr. Mom, doting on his three young daughters and making up for her absence. Denis Leary's role as the embodiment of Scott's rage is not detrimental to the movie (in fact, it's pretty amusing with Leary doing his stolen Bill Hicks-meets-Brad Pitt routine). The ending is a little more than problematic and unlikely, however, as what is foreshadowed as being less-than-optimistic becomes upbeat in a hurry, and the reluctance to investigate Hope Davis' unhappiness or extra-marital shenanigans, while understandable, turns her into a purely egotistical bad-mother. Quirkiness wins out, however, and the flu plague that runs through the household actually rivals Davis for the role of chief antagonist.
