The Secret Lives of Dentists
Manhattan Pictures International | Release Date: August 1, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Don't let unpleasant personal dental associations stand in the way of seeing a luminous specimen of independent filmmaking. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
One of the best pictures so far this year, marking a high point of Rudolph's career and reconfirming the extraordinary talent Mr. Campbell has shown in earlier films. Dentistry will never seem the same. Read full review
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Think of easy jazz or soft soul, with Rudolph's cinematic improvisations soaring and circling the melody while adding quirky variations. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
While it's Dave's madly humming brain that propels the film, Davis, whose every glance is a short story in itself, makes Dana's internal crisis equally resonant. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
This portrait of a failing marriage is one of the summer's great discoveries, and a marvel of mercurial intimacy.
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A stylish work from an accomplished, sophisticated filmmaker that bristles with intelligence and gleams with Scott's and Davis' multifaceted, astutely judged portrayals. Read full review
90
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Small, quiet movie that imperceptibly takes its viewers by their throats and doesn't let go Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
May not be the best movie ever made about the perils of family life, but it is among the most ruthlessly comic. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Scott and Davis could not be better. You're in for something special. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
An excellent adaptation of a wonderful work of fiction (The Age of Grief). Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Roundly entertaining. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Intensely appealing. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
It's not a flawless adaptation, but it's a gutsy and deeply affecting one: The filmmakers manage to jazz up Smiley's tempo without losing her melancholy tone; and they find a way--without being untrue to the book--to make the stubbornly recessive protagonist seem a dynamo on the screen. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Refreshingly uncategorizable: It’s somewhere between a marital-discord drama and a mystery thriller, but it also has its madcap moments. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
With Scott playing the perfect foil to Leary's exasperated sage, the fantasy sequences are hilariously caustic, but as they accumulate more rapidly, the distinction between real and imagined situations becomes disturbingly vague. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
A surprisingly insightful, non-judgmental meditation on a troubled marriage-with-kids. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A melancholy, well-observed film. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Campbell Scott creates a new movie anti-hero -- the weak silent type -- and goes all the way with it in The Secret Lives of Dentists. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Tries hard to be a good film, but if it had relaxed a little, it might have been great. Read full review
75
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Intelligently written and beautifully acted throughout, it’s a good, and rare, example of what we used to refer to as a movie for adults. Adults, be advised. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
A rarely honest, funny movie. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The climax, however, is far superior here, open-ended and ambiguous and neatly linked to this film's recurring metaphor: Teeth, of course, which "outlast everything," which survive the death of the body just as marriage can survive the demise of love. They both endure, yellowed and rootless. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Director Alan Rudolph achieves fresh as well as humorous insights into family life and strategies for keeping a damaged relationship from expiring. But a tiresome final act proves trying. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The film is equally good in handling the discrepancy between skilled and unskilled parents. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Unlike those in the not dissimilar “American Beauty,” Dentists' characters are needier than the actors who play them -- and therein lies the problem. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
It has almost no story: its claim on our interest is in the texture of family life, which is what really fills the screen. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Campbell Scott and Hope Davis, both of whom work with such subtlety and depth, rescue the film from Rudolph's seemingly native inability to keep it steadily on course. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
It all adds up to a portrait in decency, which isn’t nearly as sexy as the title would suggest. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Ultimately, it's a compassionate view of marriage and its stressors. But the filmmaker and actors do their jobs only too well. Watching "Secret Lives" can be as uncomfortable as sitting in the dentist's chair. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Leary's presence quickly grows tiresome, and The Secret Lives of Dentists would have been a better movie without him. But Scott and Davis keep you interested in the Hursts' dilemma Read full review
63
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Lacking a solid narrative beyond the worsening marital crisis, this humor-flecked domestic drama ends up relying heavily on directorial tricks such as splashes of magic realism, giving it a self-satisfied air that quickly becomes grating. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Scott and Davis bring heart-rending sadness and telling detail to their roles, and imbue Secret Lives with something real and true. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Director Alan Rudolph, whose reputation rests on ensemble pieces, lets Scott's performance -- as skilled as his pyrotechnical turn in "Roger Dodger" (2002), but composed entirely of subtle notes -- anchor the film. Read full review
60
EmpirePatrick Peters
The cast are terrific, but byt he end, the film is struggling to stay together as much as the family it depicts. Read full review
40
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
A very dull movie. Read full review
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