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Review

Director Altman has always brought out the best in his actors, and here he has done the impossible: coaxed a smart, rich and winning performance out of old stoneface, Richard Gere. He plays an obstetrician/gynecologist around whom many Dallas women's lives seem to revolve, in typical multicharactered Altman style. While he's the object of some misplaced affection, he is wholly devoted to his wife; when she has a mental breakdown and reverts to childish ways (appropriately, she's played by nutty-and-nuttier Fawcett), his formerly perfect life is thrown into turmoil. His wife now institutionalized, Dr. T fills his loneliness with golf pro Hunt, who proves a tantilizing seductress. However, the emphasis is on humor, as Altman's positive outlook sees no difference between quirky little problems (Dern's tipsy sister-in-law) and the ones that initially seem huge (engaged daughter Hudson's lesbian affair) -- in the end, life goes on. Forgotten "Cheers" alum Long is a particular comic standout as Dr. T's harried and too-devoted head nurse.