'The Truth': Sensitive new age man meets plain-Jane<\/p>\n
By Jane Freebury<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): From an empty beach at midday the camera drifts
\nto a seaside suburb and the solitary pedestrian striding along
\nthe pavement. She has a knapsack on her back, black stockings on
\nher legs, and Doc Martens on her feet, and is clothed in the
\nnondescript apparel of someone who wants to escape notice.<\/p>\n
This short, stocky figure is on her way to work. It is Dr.
\nAbby Barnes (played by Janeane Garofalo), a veterinary doctor who
\nhosts a radio talk show dispensing advice to pet owners on how to
\ndeal with fish that have stopped swimming, with cats that won't
\nstop licking, or dogs that won't keep still to have their photo
\ntaken. You've got it. Sometimes she deals with whackos, but one
\nday a caller named Brian rings in. He doesn't own a pet, but has
\na problem with one.<\/p>\n
Brian (played by British actor Ben Chaplin) is a photographer
\nwho has an assignment with a hound called Hank, but Hank is
\nrolling around on skates (Yes!) and having too much fun to
\ncooperate. Desperate, Brian calls in to Abby's talk show for some
\nof her pithy advice. Instructed to get down on all fours, stretch
\nout a \"paw\" and fondle the tips of Hank's ears, he discovers that
\nthis works instantly. Hank becomes a model subject. Brian is so
\nimpressed by Abby's persuasive talk show persona, and so
\ncaptivated with her wit and warmth, that he caves in to initial
\nresistance to her suggestion -- and takes Hank home as his pet.
\nNext day he rings the doctor and requests a meeting with her.<\/p>\n
What does she look like so he will recognize her? Instantly
\nAbby loses her composure. Well, she's a whip-thin 5'10\" tall and
\nblonde, she says, actually describing someone her very opposite,
\nlike the Nordic snow-princess Noelle (Uma Thurman), a model,who
\nlives next-door in her apartment block.<\/p>\n
From this point on the plot turns on the device of mistaken
\nidentity, as Brian keeps thinking that the Noelle Slusarsky he
\nmeets is the Abby Barnes he has fallen in love with over the
\nradio waves. He stops going out on assignments just to stay home
\nand listen to her timbre of her voice and the wit of her brisk
\nobservations. Still Abby just can't get herself to confront Brian
\nwith the truth -- that she's a personality girl and not a
\nstunner.<\/p>\n
Noelle, who is just as scared about being seeming stupid as
\nAbby is scared about being confronted with her plainness, begins
\nto take a fancy to this charming and sensitive Brit with his
\n'snaggish' ways. He treats her as an intelligent being, unlike
\nRoy, the boyfriend manager who yells at her, and took his 15
\npercent cut away with her confidence.<\/p>\n
What prevents Noelle having a relationship with Brian is her
\nfriendship with Abby. Sisterly enough, though one of the film's
\nlittle implausibilities is that a scatty type like Noelle -- who
\nis incredulous when asked what she thinks about something --
\ncould be a companion to Abby -- who plays violin and could cope
\nwith reading a book of Simone de Beauvoir's letters to Jean-Paul
\nSartre. Abby is more the mentor here. The relationship is more
\nlike mother-daughter than sister to sister.<\/p>\n
Despite its critique of the cult of physical beauty, an
\nuncomfortable truth about The Truth About Cats and Dogs is that
\nit still invites the viewer to judge Abby's looks and compare her
\nwith her friend. But beauteous Noelle is no man-eater but a sweet
\nand awkward girl, who is also living on her own, gets mixed up
\nwith the wrong sort of man, and is a prisoner to her beauty just
\nas Abby is imprisoned by a self-image that denies the
\nattractiveness of her nice brown eyes and her big smile.<\/p>\n
In The Truth Thurman seems to step aside to allow Garofalo the
\nfloor. Thurman, who will be better known to Jakarta audiences
\nfrom Pulp Fiction (as the vamp) and The Adventures of Baron
\nMunchausen (as goddess Venus), has top billing but it is Janeane
\nGarofalo's film. Even in the photographic session with both women
\nin Brian's studio apartment, the skillful direction of Michael
\nLehmann is able to use the camera eye to find the beauty in
\nGarofalo, beside the more obviously photogenic Thurman.<\/p>\n
Despite a less than glorious directorial career of late
\n(Airheads, Hudson Hawk), Lehmann's handling of his actors and his
\nmaterial is intelligent and adroit. Some scenes are particularly
\nwell managed -- such as the night of intimacy over the phone
\nbetween Brian and Abby -- and overall the tone is light and the
\ntouch is sure. Lots of big closeups throughout ensure
\nidentification, but the film sidesteps sentimentality.<\/p>\n
The only unsympathetic character in this film is token macho
\nmale Roy, not unlike the husband in that other memorable female
\nbuddy movie, Thelma and Louise. With the sole exception of
\nboyfriend Roy (Who is incidentally allergic to cats. He will
\ntherefore never be enlightened!) all of the men around, including
\nAbby's talk show producer and assistant, are supportive of women.<\/p>\n
Go with a girlfriend to see The Truth About Cats and Dogs. As
\nmuch as I wanted to like other recent women's films How to Make
\nan American Quilt and Waiting to Exhale, I couldn't find the
\nspirit and generosity of this little film in either.<\/p>\n
The Truth About Cats and Dogs could have gone further, it
\ncould have pulled out the stops and developed into a more
\nextravagant comedy, after the style of a Cary Grant and Katherine
\nHepburn vehicle like Howard Hawks' screwball classic Bringing up
\nBaby. Seeing a desirable hunk like Grant duped by a smart and
\nsassy Hepburn is an illicit pleasure for the female audience of
\nscrewball comedy. But Brian was probably safe from being taught a
\nlesson because he had already earned his sensitive new age
\ncredentials long before he rang up for the doctor's help.<\/p>",
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