Beyond Therapy

Rating:
Summary: Robert Altman destroys a Christopher Durang Masterpiece
Review: Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang is an excellent intellegent comedy. Unfortunately Beyond Therapy by Robert Altman is not. He tries to place realism in an existential play, for example destroying one of the important themes of Durang's play by placing real waiters in the restaurant. There are too many distractions, with strange background noises and many characters who are never developed. It drops in and out of the play script, and the audience can immediately tell those moments as the style of the lines change.

Rating:
Summary: Patience Needed to "Get" Beyond Therapy
Review: Beyond Therapy is a truly hilarious movie, but a demanding one. You've gotta be willing to watch and LISTEN carefully. There's SO much going on so much of the time - and Altman mercilessly adds to the confusion with car-crashes and dish-smashes in the background to highlight the mental chaos of his characters. I can understand how many people would just give up on this movie, missing a cumulative experience that always leaves me laughing. Definitely NOT for viewers who need slow-moving, clear-talking Murder She Wrote-type video "action", but if you can keep up, you'll find Beyond Therapy a little gem of a movie. And, certainly, it would help if you have a somewhat bizarre sense of humor.

Rating:
Summary: Patience Needed to "Get" Beyond Therapy
Review: Beyond Therapy is a truly hilarious movie, but a demanding one. You've gotta be willing to watch and LISTEN carefully. There's SO much going on so much of the time - and Altman mercilessly adds to the confusion with car-crashes and dish-smashes in the background to highlight the mental chaos of his characters. I can understand how many people would just give up on this movie, missing a cumulative experience that always leaves me laughing. Definitely NOT for viewers who need slow-moving, clear-talking Murder She Wrote-type video "action", but if you can keep up, you'll find Beyond Therapy a little gem of a movie. And, certainly, it would help if you have a somewhat bizarre sense of humor.

Rating:
Summary: Just What The Doctor Ordered
Review: Christopher Durang's off-Broadway play BEYOND THERAPY was a triumph, and Durang himself worked with director Robert Altman to bring it to the screen. The result is a truly remarkable film--beautifully played by a first-rate cast, quick paced, provocative, romantic, and very, very funny.

Unlike some Altman films, BEYOND THERAPY offers a traditional storyline. When Prudence and Bruce (Julie Hagerty and Jeff Goldblum) meet for a blind date the result is disasterous--not surprising, when Bruce casually notes that he is bisexual and living with lover Bob (Christopher Guest.) Prudence and Bruce rush back to their therapists (Tom Conti and Glenda Jackson, respectively) for advice... but their therapists are nuttier than they are, and soon they, Bob, Bob's mother Zizi (Genevieve Page), and the entire waitstaff of a French restaurant are dragged into the fray.

Durang's adaptation of his script is absolutely hilarious, and so many memorable lines ("My mother is NOT a transvestite!") bounce through the film that the effect--particularly when coupled with Altman's "wall of sound" audio style--is absolutely dizzying; the sound design is also memorable for the constant car crashes and china shattering that occurs in the background, a metaphor for collision of characters happening before our eyes. The entire cast is absolutely first rate (Hagerty, Goldblum, and Guest have never been better), and Altman guides them with a very sure hand.

Altman's vision always divides viewers: you either like his films or you do not. Although BEYOND THERAPY offers a relatively small cast in a cohesive story, it is actually one of Altman's most visually and aurally kaliediscopic films, and it is unlikely to convert those who find his style confusing and frustrating. But that said, this is a must-have film for any Altman fan, a truly enjoyable romantic comedy with a razor sharp script and a joyous style. A great shame that this VHS is out of print and there is no DVD release! Strongly, strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Just What The Doctor Ordered
Review: Christopher Durang's off-Broadway play BEYOND THERAPY was a triumph, and Durang himself worked with director Robert Altman to bring it to the screen. The result is a truly remarkable film--beautifully played by a first-rate cast, quick paced, provocative, romantic, and very, very funny.

Unlike some Altman films, BEYOND THERAPY offers a traditional storyline. When Prudence and Bruce (Julie Hagerty and Jeff Goldblum) meet for a blind date the result is disasterous--not surprising, when Bruce casually notes that he is bisexual and living with lover Bob (Christopher Guest.) Prudence and Bruce rush back to their therapists (Tom Conti and Glenda Jackson, respectively) for advice... but their therapists are nuttier than they are, and soon they, Bob, Bob's mother Zizi (Genevieve Page), and the entire waitstaff of a French restaurant are dragged into the fray.

Durang's adaptation of his script is absolutely hilarious, and so many memorable lines ("My mother is NOT a transvestite!") bounce through the film that the effect--particularly when coupled with Altman's "wall of sound" audio style--is absolutely dizzying; the sound design is also memorable for the constant car crashes and china shattering that occurs in the background, a metaphor for collision of characters happening before our eyes. The entire cast is absolutely first rate (Hagerty, Goldblum, and Guest have never been better), and Altman guides them with a very sure hand.

Altman's vision always divides viewers: you either like his films or you do not. Although BEYOND THERAPY offers a relatively small cast in a cohesive story, it is actually one of Altman's most visually and aurally kaliediscopic films, and it is unlikely to convert those who find his style confusing and frustrating. But that said, this is a must-have film for any Altman fan, a truly enjoyable romantic comedy with a razor sharp script and a joyous style. A great shame that this VHS is out of print and there is no DVD release! Strongly, strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Parody of shrinks and art movies
Review: I am convinced that European Art Movies and psychotherapy are amongst the many ideas being satirized here. And what a hilarious send-up! The gaggle of dowager duchesses frantically fanning themselves in the French restaurant and the antics of the two psychologists are absolutely priceless. Brilliantly designed and shot, this film is a strange and often wonderful excursion into the world of neurosis and manages to delight, disturb and engross the viewer at the same time. Very sharp, very memorable.

Rating:
Summary: Not funny
Review: I bought this movie because it was (somewhat) by Christopher Durang, and it is positively the very last time I'll buy a DVD without renting and seeing it first. I liked "Sister Mary..." (the script, I know there's a film out there somewhere with Dianne Keaton in it, ALL of it written by Durang, but alas it is not on DVD, I very much want to see it). But "Beyond Therapy." One good thing I can say for it is the interesting way the chaos and seemingly disparate actions and characters come together (congeal?) into something coherent. But I only laughed twice. Once at the beginning when Prudence drops her magazines and screams a cussword (must be decent, mustn't say the naughty word) at the guy who runs off with them. And once when Bob is lying on the therapist's sofa with a child's fuzzy puppet on his right hand and starts to cry and takes a Kleenex with the hand with the puppet on it. Other than that the most I can say is that it was interesting, hardly funny, NOT Durang that I remember (I've read the play), and the color of the film was kind of dark and blackish, like it had been dipped in soot. I do not recommend this flick to anyone. However. A lot of people liked it, so I guess it's a question of taste.

Rating:
Summary: Not funny
Review: I bought this movie because it was (somewhat) by Christopher Durang, and it is positively the very last time I'll buy a DVD without renting and seeing it first. I liked "Sister Mary..." (the script, I know there's a film out there somewhere with Dianne Keaton in it, ALL of it written by Durang, but alas it is not on DVD, I very much want to see it). But "Beyond Therapy." One good thing I can say for it is the interesting way the chaos and seemingly disparate actions and characters come together (congeal?) into something coherent. But I only laughed twice. Once at the beginning when Prudence drops her magazines and screams a cussword (must be decent, mustn't say the naughty word) at the guy who runs off with them. And once when Bob is lying on the therapist's sofa with a child's fuzzy puppet on his right hand and starts to cry and takes a Kleenex with the hand with the puppet on it. Other than that the most I can say is that it was interesting, hardly funny, NOT Durang that I remember (I've read the play), and the color of the film was kind of dark and blackish, like it had been dipped in soot. I do not recommend this flick to anyone. However. A lot of people liked it, so I guess it's a question of taste.

Rating:
Summary: Not funny
Review: I bought this movie because it was (somewhat) by Christopher Durang, and it is positively the very last time I'll buy a DVD without renting and seeing it first. I liked "Sister Mary..." (the script, I know there's a film out there somewhere with Dianne Keaton in it, ALL of it written by Durang, but alas it is not on DVD, I very much want to see it). But "Beyond Therapy." One good thing I can say for it is the interesting way the chaos and seemingly disparate actions and characters come together (congeal?) into something coherent. But I only laughed twice. Once at the beginning when Prudence drops her magazines and screams a cussword (must be decent, mustn't say the naughty word) at the guy who runs off with them. And once when Bob is lying on the therapist's sofa with a child's fuzzy puppet on his right hand and starts to cry and takes a Kleenex with the hand with the puppet on it. Other than that the most I can say is that it was interesting, hardly funny, NOT Durang that I remember (I've read the play), and the color of the film was kind of dark and blackish, like it had been dipped in soot. I do not recommend this flick to anyone. However. A lot of people liked it, so I guess it's a question of taste.

Rating:
Summary: Beneath Contempt
Review: I don't think I've seen a worse screen version of a stage play than this one.

Christopher Durang and Robert Altman have very different styles and senses of humor, which come together in this movie like the Titanic and the iceberg, sinking the whole enterprise. Durang is direct and over the top; his characters constantly surprise us with their emotional zigzags and unpredictable comments. Altman likes his actors underplaying much of the time while offscreen chattering and noises distract viewers from the dialogue. Jokes, motives, and plot points all get lost in the buzz.

Some of the actors are so badly miscast that no one's direction could have helped. Jeff Goldblum is more creepy, obnoxious, and arrogant than neurotic. And what's with Tom Conti's outrageous accent? He doesn't normally talk like that, and the character isn't written like that.

The play is episodic enough that it should translate well to the screen. I can only hope that some director whose style is more compatible with Durang's will film it again.