Name: The Treatment (2006)
IMDb: link to The Treatment
Genres: Comedy, Romance, Drama. Country of origin: USA.
Cast: Christopher Eigeman as Jake, Famke Janssen as Allegra Marshall, Jake's lover in an affair that eventually bogs down; Ian Holm as Dr. Ernesto Morales; Stephanie March as Julia, Jake's ex; Harris Yulin as Dr. Singer; Blair Brown as Miss Callucci; Roger Rees as Leighton Proctor, Jake's boss at school; Stephen Lang as the basketball coach, Jake's boss in that arena.
Directed by: Oren Rudavsky. Written by: Daniel Saul Housman, Daniel Menaker (novel), Oren Rudavsky.
The Three Acts:
The initial tableaux:
Jake is a recently divorced Manhattan high school teacher who is in psychotherapy. Jake's two bosses enjoy putting him in his place. Despite the patterns of failure, Jake has his scattered aspirations.
Delineation of conflicts:
Jake wants to be a leader, especially in his own life, but cannot do what it takes to become one. He attempts to resolve his inner conflicts with the aggressive Dr Morales, but the two seldom connect.
He attempts wooing his boss' ex-wife Allegra Marshall, but that also seems doomed. He has all sorts of ideas about how the basketball team should be managed, but cannot make his voice heard with the coach, who tells him to stick to keeping statistics. Leighton Proctor tells him to keep his opinions to himself, and to support whatever Leighton Proctor said.
It came as no surprise that Jake has issues with Dr. Singer, his ailing father.
Resolution: The doors continue to slam shut. Does Jake break through any of them?
One line summary: No laughs in this #FeelBad comedy.
Statistics:
Cinematography: 5/10 The introductory sequence, which included most of the credits, was ugly and out of focus. The camera work improved immediately after that, but still suffered from soft focus and short depth of field. With a budget that IMDB estimated at 900,000 USD, I suppose this is not unexpected.
Sound: 7/10 Very nice in the introductory sequence, OK through the rest.
Acting: 4/10 The first encounter of Julia and Jake was irritating. Stephanie March's performances are always wooden, so I expected nothing there. Eigeman's acting plus the writing, though, rendered the scene repulsive rather than bland. Why would Julia (gorgeous and well-connected) marry this nebbish, who can turn any opportunity into rancid failure?
This one small stint told me the entire film would be worse than having a horse step on my foot. All the subsequent minutes of the film did not change that assessment. This was a dreary movie, mostly because of Eigeman's acting. Dragging the viewer through the protagonist's failures is a bit much. A different lead might have used the situations better; there might have been laughs.
On the other hand, I enjoyed the performances of Ian Holm, Stephen Lang, Famke Janssen, Harris Yulin, and Roger Rees. That's why it's 4/10, not zero.
Screenplay: 4/10 With another lead, slightly better screenplay, and the same supporting actors, I think I might have had three or four belly laughs, plus a dozen chuckles. With this lead, I did not laugh once. This does not recommend a film labelled comedy. The 'happy ending' seemed like an abrupt change given the bulk of the film.
Final Rating: 4/10
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