Key Takeaways
- Plot Overview: The film follows Dr. Sandeep Kapoor as he navigates the fallout from the death of Anna Nicole Smith.
- Character Focus: Kal Penn portrays Dr. Kapoor, who faces legal challenges while dealing with the complexities of celebrity culture.
- Film Style: The narrative combines flashbacks and fourth wall breaks, creating a unique storytelling approach.
- Performance Highlights: The film features strong performances from Kal Penn and Linda Hamilton, enhancing its dramatic impact.
Plot: Follows Dr. Sandeep Kapoor after his life is turned upside down when he is implicated in the death of his former patient, model and reality television star Anna Nicole Smith. Set against the height of the early 2000s tabloid era, the film chronicles Kapoor’s fight to clear his name as paparazzi descend on his office, police raid his home, private journals are leaked, and every aspect of his personal life becomes public. With the guidance of respected attorney Ellyn Garofalo, Kapoor must navigate a high-stakes drug conspiracy trial while confronting the intersection of celebrity, justice, politics and personal redemption.
Review: When it comes to the pop culture moments that stick in your mind from the early 2000s, the untimely passing of Anna Nicole Smith may not be the first that comes to mind. Seeing the trailer for Trust Me, I’m A Doctor certainly brings the zeitgeist flash of the former Playboy Playmate back to the forefront, but the frenzy surrounding her death and the trial that followed has not had the same impact as others from the same period. It was still a shocking story with many layers that had not been explored before outside of documentaries and memoirs. Thane Economou’s feature directorial debut has been noted more for Abbie Cornish’s transformation into Anna Nicole Smith and concern that it takes a comedic angle on a celebrity death, but Trust Me, I’m A Doctor is not at all exploitative. Instead, this is a drama that embraces the weird and surreal orbit of the events while giving us the story of Anna Nicole’s personal physician, who was pulled into the downward spiral after her demise. Led by Kal Penn and Linda Hamilton, Trust Me, I’m A Doctor is different than what I was expecting.
Told with a blend of flashbacks and fourth wall breaks, Trust Me, I’m A Doctor opens with Dr. Sandeep Kapoor (Kal Penn) going through discovery with his attorney, Ellyn Garofalo (Linda Hamilton). Kapoor, a quiet and introverted physician, finds himself taking over a Los Angeles medical practice that happens to have Anna Nicole Smith (Abbie Cornish) as a patient. Following the previous doctor’s regimen of methadone to treat her, Kapoor gets pulled into her social circle and finds himself struck by her energy and attractive qualities. Accompanying her to a gay pride parade, the closeted Kapoor enjoys being around his patient even though he notices strange behavior from her, her attorney and lover Howard K. Stern (David Julian Hirsch), and her photographer and other lover, Larry Birkhead (Ted Jefferies). Kapoor also takes on Anna Nicole’s son, Daniel (Jordan Kronis), as a patient. Growing to enjoy his interactions with Anna Nicole, Dr. Kapoor goes against some of his better judgment while still maintaining as much professional decorum as possible. That is, until she dies.
Trust Me, I’m A Doctor features much less of Abbie Cornish transformed into Anna Nicole Smith as you may think. The screen time for Cornish amounts to less than twenty minutes of the whole film, which focuses almost entirely on Sandeep Kapoor making some atrociously dumb decisions. If it wasn’t for the fact that the movie is based directly on Kapoor’s memoir of the same name, I would be shocked to believe someone could be as foolish as a board-certified physician. From trusting people implicitly to do the right thing to taking files home and forgetting about them, Kapoor does everything short of saying he broke the law to give fuel to the authorities, including a determined medical investigator (Al Sapienza), everything they need to take him down. As the film progresses, Trust Me, I’m A Doctor takes a broader look at the political implications of the trial of three people suspected of enabling Anna Nicole Smith’s death, which goes all the way to candidate for governor Jerry Brown.
Kal Penn has played characters based on real people before, but this is the first time it is inspired by a living person. Affecting Sandeep Kapoor’s quiet manner and speech patterns, Penn plays a frustratingly likable person. Anyone would be infatuated with celebrity, but Sandeep Kapoor seemed to struggle with whether he wanted to or not. Penn does a nice job with the fourth-wall-breaking narration, giving us a sense of just how bizarre the situations were while lightening the material a bit. Linda Hamilton is also excellent in her first feature film based on a true story. This is one of Hamilton’s strongest and most substantial performances in quite some time after recurring roles as military officials on Resident Alien and Stranger Things. Hamilton plays Ellyn Garofalo as a skilled attorney who knows her way around the courtroom and delivers some rousing moments while taking down witnesses. The chemistry between Penn and Hamilton is present as they share most screen time and have fun with the material without disrespecting that fact that the trial involves both Anna Nicole Smith’s and her son Daniel’s deaths.
As a feature debut for Thane Economou, who wrote the screenplay based on Sandeep Kapoor’s book, Trust Me, I’m A Doctor handles balancing funny and serious pretty well. The characters speak naturally and include pop culture references here and there, including an unexpected connection between events in the film and director Jon Favreau. Economou uses some archival footage and tangential story elements to flesh out just how odd Anna Nicole Smith’s life and death were. Keeping Abbie Cornish’s screen time limited allows her performance to be respectful of Anna Nicole Smith rather than becoming a caricature; however, Cornish is fully transformed into her role, which makes me wish we could see more of it. Keeping focus on Sandeep Kapoor offers nice moments at home with his two sons as well as interactions with Kapoor’s parents which gives sweet moments throughout the film. With some nice musical cuts peppered throughout and actors portraying real people like Harvey Levin included; it makes early 2000s world very tangible.
Trust Me, I’m A Doctor provides an enjoyable experience while respectfully chronicling a real person’s death. With one of Kal Penn’s strongest performances alongside Linda Hamilton at her best; this movie exceeded my expectations. With actual Sandeep Kapoor making a brief cameo at the end along with archival footage playing over credits; you can see that Penn’s portrayal isn’t based solely on physical similarities but rather who he embodies as a person. You will not believe how misguided his decisions were; however you can understand and empathize with them. Trust Me, I’m A Doctor isn’t just an Anna Nicole Smith movie; it features her while allowing focus on those surrounding her—some who took advantage while others simply orbited around her larger-than-life personality.
Trust Me, I’m A Doctor opens in theaters on October 16th.
The post Trust Me, I’m A Doctor Review: Kal Penn leads an off-kilter look at the bizarre true story of Anna Nicole Smith’s personal physician appeared first on JoBlo.
