SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Roland E. Zwick Commitment-phobic characters are a dime a dozen in romantic comedies. Yet, no one can deny that they serve a valid function - for without all the tension they bring to the story, how would writers ever get us to that inevitable happy ending? In "The Treatment," which director Oren Rudavsky co-adapted (with Daniel Saul Housman) from the novel by Daniel Menaker, Jake Singer is an English teacher at a Manhattan prep school who falls in love with a wealthy widow whose son is a pupil there. The problem is that Jake, like many men of his generation, seems utterly paralyzed when it comes to taking the full-on plunge into commitment and marriage. In an attempt to overcome this weakness, he regularly sees a shrink who is clearly an advocate of the no-nonsense, "tough love" school of psychotherapy, and who keeps insisting that Jake stop whining and making excuses for himself and simply get with the program.On the surface, "The Treatment" doesn't appear to be much different from dozens of other romantic comedies that have come our way over the years, but the scenario plays out with so much charm and wit that it makes the situation itself seem new and fresh. We really get caught up in the lives of these characters, mainly because the filmmakers go to great lengths to avoid the superficialities and clichés that render so many romantic comedies phony and unreal. The film is helped immeasurably in this regard by the superb performances by Chris Eigeman and Famke Janssen who have an amazing chemistry on screen and, thus, are able to convince us that these two quite different people could indeed be genuinely drawn to one another. Ian Holm steals every scene he's in as the hilariously deadpan therapist who isn't afraid to say what he thinks, even at those times when he's only appearing as a figment of Jake's guilt-ridden imagination. Harris Yulin is also wonderful as Jake's pragmatic father who still harbors resentment towards his son for not following in his footsteps and becoming a doctor.Given its low budget, the movie may be a trifle rough around the edges at times, but that lack of polish actually turns out to be a key ingredient in the movie's overall success. For once, a romantic comedy that actually works.

george.schmidt THE TREATMENT (2007) *** Chris Eigeman, Famke Janssen, Ian Holm, Stephanie March, Stephan Lang, Blair Brown, Harris Yulin, Roger Rees. (Dir: Oren Rudavsky)Analyze This!: Literate rom-dramedy with stand out work by Eigeman & Janssen.Jake Singer (Eigeman), a New York City prep school literature instructor, is in a state of flux. After a bad break-up (is there any other kind?) he runs into his ex, Julia (March of NBC's "Law & Order SVU") and opens his fresh wounds to the fact she has moved on and gotten engaged. Awkwardly he accepts her invite to an engagement dinner. This adds fuel to his fire with his visit to his passive/aggressive Argentina émigré analyst Dr. Morales (Holm), whose demeanor suggests his patient is only to blame for all his shortcomings.While Jake stews with his domestic dilemma he's busy juggling an extracurricular activity as the school basketball team's statistician who has been attempting to mentor one of the temperamental players, a good kid who is struggling with his skills and the brow- beating by their jerk coach (Lang), who tells Jake to butt out of his methods. On top of that he is jockeying for a summer sabbatical to London for the school by making good with the headmaster (Rees) at a get-together dinner held at a trustees' widow's home.The recent widow, Allegra Marshall (the gorgeous Janssen, best known as Jane Grey from the "X-MEN" film franchise, in one of her best performances to date), is also in a state of flux dealing with her grief at the loss of her husband, the victim of a sudden heart attack, leaving her to care for their young, impressionable son and a toddler they were in line for adopting (she has failed to report his death to the agency negotiating the legalities).Jake is smitten with the hostess – at first unknowing she is a widow – and begins to take interest in her and her family. Before he knows it he is hooking up with her and when she makes her confession he is at first shocked – and then relieved – since all his flirting has paid off. Naturally he is scolded by Morales.The couple gingerly eke out their newfound relationship but soon find an awkward bump when the adoption agent (Blair) makes an unexpected visit to see the welfare of the progress of the bonding between the child and the impeding parents-to-be. Based on a novel by Daniel Menaker, Daniel Saul Housman's screenplay is literate and charming but problematic only when it uses the narrative device of the therapist to act as a surrogate conscience to Jake, popping in here and there as an unseen noodge. Rudavsky, a documentary filmmaker making his first foray as a feature film director, stumbles a little bit in some flatfooted staging, but is acquitted by the fine acting by his leads.Eigeman, best known for his brainy, WASPy turns in Wilt Stillman and Noah Baumbach films (and if they ever did a live-action adaptation of the ARCHIE comics would be a top choice as Reggie!) , comes across as a latter- day Charles Grodin, a sardonic scold whose witty banter and cosmopolitan airs belie his insecurities, does a fine job imbuing the uncertainties and neuroses of his character that has shades of a Woody Allen manqué, but he also has some good nuanced choices in his phrasings and facial expressions underscoring the dialogue given.Janssen proves to be a fine counterpoint, a glammed-down statuesque gal out of his league, but not entirely unlikely soul mate. She is an underused and underrated actress; this proves she can do so much with so little.An indie sleeper that should be sought out for those who like their rom-dramedies with wit and sex appeal.

Chris_Docker The Treatment describes itself as 'a serious romantic comedy about life and love in NYC.' The main characters are Jake Singer, an anxious young schoolteacher who has broken up with his girlfriend and seems resigned to a life of mediocrity; his shrink, Dr Ernesto Morales (Ian Holm), who describes himself as the last great Freudian - 'in a line stretching from Moses to Aristotle;' and Allegra Marshall, a beautiful young socialite that takes a fancy to him.The film aims at a serious note with the unrelenting, intrusive and almost sadistic treatment meted out by Dr Morales. Jake's baggage is all too obvious and (although there must be easier routes) the 'treatment' does show signs of working, even when Jake starts wondering if he has maybe just 'hallucinated' the encounters. A sub-plot about adoption tries to bring in some emotional ballast to fill the chasm left by Jake and Allegra's lack of on-screen chemistry.The Treatment meanders along like an episode of Sex and the City or Frasier - only where nothing much happens. At first captivating, the endless litany of inconsequential detail and forced humour soon begins to wear. "I thought he was supposed to make you feel more comfortable in your own skin," says Allegra about Jake's analyst. "No, he's more the exfoliating type." In discussing one of Jake's favourite books, Allegra quotes a comment about the author re-drawing the landscape to place equal emphasis on what's not said. Sadly, this film has too much that is said; and that which is not said has too little substance to justify the barely relevant meanderings of school sports halls or Dr Morales' questions about sexual positions. Ian Holm delivers a fine performance, but the script, while not completely without merit, has too little to for such a great actor to get his teeth into. We are told that the lover in Jake is under-nourished and the self-pitying side over-fed: much the same could be said of this bloated, drawn-out and not particularly engaging film.

Dave Baird "The Treatment" is a very well acted romantic comedy that relies on clever dialogue rather than outlandish set-pieces to deliver the laughs. The story is simple enough - Teacher Jake befriends the young widowed mother of a student and then falls for her. Things are complicated by their different social standings, the fact that Allegra is still grieving for her recently dead husband, and Jake's visits to his psychoanalyst.The lead actors are all excellent, but Ian Holm's character gets all the best lines in the movie as a nasty psychoanalyst trying to 'help' Jake Singer (Chris Eigeman) stop undermining his own relationships.Famke Janssen is very, very good in this movie and her performance was my favourite of the piece. Considering the other works I've seen her in I was blown away to discover she was such a good actress.This is a warm, funny movie that I could happily watch again.