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List Price: $26.96 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 38688
Released: January 27, 2004 |
| Our Price: $2.95 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Studio: Ingram Entertainment Release Date: 01/27/2004 Run time: 104 minutes Rating: R
Description of The Secret Lives of Dentists:
The passion of oral surgeons is the unlikely subject of The Secret Lives of Dentists, Alan Rudolph's keenly observed comedy-drama. Campbell Scott and Hope Davis, dentists both, have three kids and a pleasant life. Pleasant, but not exciting. When Scott realizes his wife is having an affair on the side, he's torn between caution and an outrageous inner voice urging drastic action. That voice is personified by Denis Leary, who pops up with unwelcome advice, like a nattering ghost; needless to say, the role is a perfect fit for Leary's hostile persona. The blend of everyday realities--especially a hilariously miserable five-day siege with stomach flu--and Leary's surreal presence makes for a typically offbeat Rudolph offering. The smart script, after a Jane Smiley story, is by Craig Lucas. Indie stalwarts Scott and Davis both do subtle work--they're as careful and scrupulous as the dentists they portray. --Robert Horton
The Secret Lives of Dentists Reviews:
Nicely sustained psychological piece 
2009-03-16 - I thought the treatment and concept were quite original in this marriage-in-crisis set piece. The device of the re-appearing conscience of the man, in the form of the angry jazz trumpeter, is pretty effective, in my opinion. Nothing is too obvious here and that's why I liked it. And dentists? How many movies are made about dentists? Watch it.
I wonder why so few have mentioned sacrifice
2007-05-25 - A few of the reviews below are decent, but Amazon's, as usual, passes by everything tender or subtle about a film. In the case of "Lives" what most other viewers seem to have missed is the other side to Hurst's decision not to divorce his wife. He might be a coward, and it's unclear how he intends to maintain the marriage without himself changing in some way. Everyone seems to have gotten this easy part.
But what about love? Trying to understand the characters, is it really so difficult to see that Hurst puts up with his wife's (possible) duplicity OUT OF LOVING HER GREATLY? He wants to be with her and with the children so dearly that he is even ready to forgive the betrayal. The betrayal which proves that he no longer means to his beloved what she still does to him, that he has lost her. Never mind the ancient subject, never mind that adultery is common, statistics says: when love is involved, there are few pains that compare. Yet Hurst endures, sacrificing himself for her sake. Ye viewers, take a moment to appreciate it.
An overlooked piece of the marriage puzzle 
2007-03-04 - This film highlights a clear picture of traditional marriage roles reversed. He plays a codependent "supermom" while she a self absorbed and absent husband. His codependency puts up with the affair hence the appearance of his humourously played alter ego. When he finally speaks up and asks for a confession, the alter ego did his job and hops on a bus, but persumably only for the time being (cavity filled) since nothing is shown that his wife will not simply just have another affair down the road nor does it seem likely that he's ready to face up to the connection between mind and body. He will forgive her and be glad to have her back but their hygiene habits (core maritial problems) remain.
Secret Lives and Quiet Desperation 
2007-02-26 -
This film is a gem, quiet and powerful modern masterpiece that deals with the marriage in crisis. Shifting seamlessly from humor to drama, from reality to the imagination and back, the movie is a stylish, compelling and very intelligent work of a sophisticated and remarkable filmmaker. There are not many films that explore the quiet desperation of a family's crisis (or should I say any relationship's crisis) with such honesty, poignancy, and subtlety. Alan Rudolph masterfully explores the mysterious connection between two people, the ability to deal with its possible loss, and the secret longings in all of us.
Campbell Scott is very impressive as an introvert Dr. David Hurst. He does not say much in the film but we feel all emotions he goes through - love, fear to lose it, anger, desperation, depression, and confusion. Hope Davis, Dennis Leary and three young girls all gave great performances.
No character development in this character-driven drama 
2006-08-09 - With a title like "The Secret Lives of Dentists," one almost expects a muck raking portrayal and a series of shocking revelations about the secret exploits of dental professionals. Instead, we find out that dentists are normal people leading normal lives with normal problems. The plot revolves around how the husband dentist suspects that the wife dentist may be having an affair.
To be fair, the idea of "secret lives" does come into play: the wife has a not-so-secret life in the form of her increasingly obvious affair and the husband has a secret fantasy life in which his suspicions and frustrations play out. The most interesting scenes of the film take place in the latter, where the husband has a running conversation with his darker alter ego in the guise of one of his rude patients. There are a couple of zany fantasy sequences--I liked the "dental identification" scene, but I found the family beat down "kick her out of the house" scene to be tasteless.
The biggest problem of the film is lack of character development. We see very little of the motivations of the wife and no direct scenes involving her affair--this character plays more of a role in the film through her conspicuous absences than through anything she says or does. The husband fairs little better: At the beginning of the film the husband is a put-upon loser and at the end of the film he is a put-upon loser who has let his wife know that he knows about the affair. Even the moment when the dental hygienist seems to be fleetingly interested in the husband turns out to be nothing more than pity for a cuckold. After all of his interior conversations with his patient/alter ego, the husband decides that it would be too inconvenient and too much hassle to rock the boat of his comfortable middle-class life by putting any substantial effort into his relationship with his wife. While I disagreed with most of the input of the patient/alter ego, I do share his disgust that the husband couldn't amount to more--it's hard to root for someone who chooses a living room full of nice furniture over love, happiness, self-respect and dignity.
