Beyond Therapy

Having dealt with computer dating in the insanely neglected A Perfect Couple, Altman turns his attention to Lonely Hearts subscribers in a film that merges the romantic merry-go-round antics of La Ronde with the clamorous, overflowing narrative tactics of Nashville. Based on a stage play - though you wouldn't know it - the movie commences in a ritzy French restaurant where goofy Goldblum meets nutsy nice girl Hagerty; he's bisexual, she's scared stiff of virtually everything. On the fringes of their frantic, stop-go love affair jabbers a gaggle of eccentric lovers, mothers and shrinks. Besides their evidently loose grip on sanity, the members of this group share a desire for a protector. Altman's brash, broad satire retains the ability to touch the heart, evincing a very real sense of pain in certain otherwise contrived scenes. Stunningly designed and shot, it's a weird and sometimes wonderful excursion into New York neurotica that will offend, disturb and intrigue.