The TV Addict 

THE TREATMENT isn’t necessarily a perfect movie. I know, not a great way to start a recommendation. The reason I mention it though is that there’s a lot being attempted in this film, and a fair amount of it doesn’t work, so it’s to best to warn you now.

Specifically, the movie wants to somehow be one of those films with psychologically flawed protagonists who struggle towards healing, but you’re never really convinced the main guy, Jake (Chris Eigeman, whom “Gilmore Girls” fans should easily recognize), is as neurotic or messed up as the writer and director think he is. Or, for the matter, his foul-mouthed, sexually frank, and extremely peculiar psychiatrist (played by Ian Holm with great relish at least) who considers himself the last Freudian. As a result, a lot of the film isn’t bad, it just has scenes that just don’t really … well, fit. There are other sub-plots that give you the sense that the filmmakers intended some bigger picture, they just don’t manage to piece it together. However, a film with a misaligned aim doesn’t necessarily make it bad, and a lot of the scenes whose greater purpose you’ll question, still work in their own way and are often even quite effective. They’re good pieces that don’t fit into a whole, but they’re still good, and in the end you’ll quickly overlook them for the reasons why I actually DO recommend this film.

At the centre of the film is the true charming appeal of the film, a cute little romantic comedy story about Jake – perhaps spurred on by finding out the love of his life is engaged – beginning to date Allegra (Famke Janssen in an incredibly accomplished and sensitive performance) who is the adoptive mother of two and struggling to come to terms with the recent death of her husband. Even though the film does subject itself to certain romantic-comedy plot points, because of the more general mature tone of the film and its highlighted relationship, it’s never as cloying as it might be in a more traditional entry of the genre. It’s a mature exploration of modern, decidedly adult relationships (and the weighty issues that can emerge) and yet it nevertheless remains cute and infectiously romantic.

That’s not a mean feat to pull off, and precisely why I suggest you pick this one up for a rent.