HBO has a great knack at taking bits of history which we never think much about, and turning them into incredibly entertaining movies. Example: This breezy, very clever satire about the rise and fall of the two inventors of the silicone breast implant.
The film deftly raises the central question about breast implants without forcing an answer upon it: Are they exploitive or theraputic? Sure, they seem like perverse objects invented by horny men, but if women really feel self-conscious about their breasts, why shouldn't they be allowed to improve them. This question is carried out through the movie, as we see a semi-inspired idea turn into an exploitation industry.
David Schwimmer and Chris Cooper star as the two doctors who come up with the idea of the implant, and both play there parts very well. Say what you want about Schwimmer, (I never liked him in other roles), he fairs pretty well here, as he almost constantly shifts from burnt-out loser to a man with new-found riches. But even if you don't like Schwimmer, Chris Cooper more than makes up for it. This has to be the most engaging performance so far in his career. He plays a past-his-prime doctor who is lucky enough to come across Schwimmer's breast ideas and finance the surgeries. He is a nice, agreagble man while you're on his side, but he bursts into fits of rage whenever his authority is questioned. The center of his performance is that, despite what he does, he wants to feel like a normal, respectable doctor. He steals every scene which he is in.
The film perfectly transports us back into the 1970's, emphasizing the point that back then, subtly didn't matter. (SLIGHT SPOILER WARNING). We follow the duo's path as split, grow from a practice into an industry, and finally are hammered by lawsuits. The film wisely makes no statements about whether or not the impants are harmful (as is should, since the facts are not yet in), but instead uses the event to highlight its characters personalities. The David Schwimmer character finds a way to skirt around the catastrophy while Chris Cooper raises hell about it. The film is also annotated by interviews with real women with breast implants, their identities concealed because (surprise!) the camera isn't centered on their heads. Their interviews help explain the emotional baggage which comes along with the implants.
In it's style, and the way it views sex as an industry rather than eroticism, Breast Men can be compared to Boogie Nights. I'll admit that Boogie Nights is a better film, but Breast Men is somehow easier to watch, mainly because it doesn't take itself so seriously. It finds the perfect note, dealing with its subject seriously enough to get the point across, and detached enough to still be hilarious.
The film deftly raises the central question about breast implants without forcing an answer upon it: Are they exploitive or theraputic? Sure, they seem like perverse objects invented by horny men, but if women really feel self-conscious about their breasts, why shouldn't they be allowed to improve them. This question is carried out through the movie, as we see a semi-inspired idea turn into an exploitation industry.
David Schwimmer and Chris Cooper star as the two doctors who come up with the idea of the implant, and both play there parts very well. Say what you want about Schwimmer, (I never liked him in other roles), he fairs pretty well here, as he almost constantly shifts from burnt-out loser to a man with new-found riches. But even if you don't like Schwimmer, Chris Cooper more than makes up for it. This has to be the most engaging performance so far in his career. He plays a past-his-prime doctor who is lucky enough to come across Schwimmer's breast ideas and finance the surgeries. He is a nice, agreagble man while you're on his side, but he bursts into fits of rage whenever his authority is questioned. The center of his performance is that, despite what he does, he wants to feel like a normal, respectable doctor. He steals every scene which he is in.
The film perfectly transports us back into the 1970's, emphasizing the point that back then, subtly didn't matter. (SLIGHT SPOILER WARNING). We follow the duo's path as split, grow from a practice into an industry, and finally are hammered by lawsuits. The film wisely makes no statements about whether or not the impants are harmful (as is should, since the facts are not yet in), but instead uses the event to highlight its characters personalities. The David Schwimmer character finds a way to skirt around the catastrophy while Chris Cooper raises hell about it. The film is also annotated by interviews with real women with breast implants, their identities concealed because (surprise!) the camera isn't centered on their heads. Their interviews help explain the emotional baggage which comes along with the implants.
In it's style, and the way it views sex as an industry rather than eroticism, Breast Men can be compared to Boogie Nights. I'll admit that Boogie Nights is a better film, but Breast Men is somehow easier to watch, mainly because it doesn't take itself so seriously. It finds the perfect note, dealing with its subject seriously enough to get the point across, and detached enough to still be hilarious.