"HEALTH" never comes near the brilliance of Robert Altman's earlier political satire, "Nashville"; but it has its moments. I found it interesting because of the good characterizations from all of the participants, but bringing it all together into a unifying theme seems to be absent from this Altman effort. The movie starts out promising but seems to lose steam before its hour and 45 minute running time is over. The ending disappoints because the outcome is so obvious from the first few frames. Still the viewer can have fun along the way: Lauren Bacall lifting her hand for purity and then sometimes inexplicably dropping off into oblivion; Paul Dooley lying at the bottom of the swimming pool as a campaign stunt; Dick Cavett relaxing in his hotel room watching The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Granted you would have to be a certain age to appreciate that last joke. Still, one wonders what was in Altman's mind in creating this film. Since it was made in 1980, I would think it would be a veiled criticism of Ronald Reagan's ascension to the presidency. But it never stretches itself far enough to really make that point. So I may be reading more into it than is intended.
Review of HealtH
