“I just don’t understand opera. Why do they have to sing everything? Why can’t they just say it?”
-Paige Clark (Joely Fisher), Ellen
The Secret Lives of Dentists
I think you probably have to be or have been married to get the full impact of this infidelity drama, starring Campbell Scott and Hope Davis as unhappily married dentists. I have not. But I loved how the conflict between the two was messy and unfocused and elliptical – like it would be between two repressed, unhappy people. It’s funny how “reality” can best be expressed in well-drawn fiction – especially these days, when popular culture seesaws between patently fake “reality shows” and Lifetime movies.
“The difference between fiction and non-fiction is negligible.”
-Paul Harrison, high school English paper
Plus, Hope Davis is one of those people I could happily watch read the phone book. I can’t wait to see “American Splendor.”
Recommended.
My idea of a good night’s entertainment is watching “Mumford” and “Next Stop Wonderland” back to back.
Hope Davis is indeed wonderful. But I’m actually avoiding seeing this movie (at least for now) because it is based on one of my FAVORITE stories (novellas) of all time, Jane Smiley’s “The Age of Grief,” and I just don’t want it messed with particularly. Maybe I can catch it later on cable or dvd, but there’s something about seeing a movie version in a theatre that drives all my own associations with a book right out of my own head.