"Private Practice" starts out in "Sunset Boulevard" fashion, with a body in a swimming pool and a voice over. We then meet Kathryn, an aspiring actress who is married to a successful Hollywood producer. On the surface, the couple appears to be getting on, but there seems to be some deeper conflicts -- she claims she doesn't want him to help her out in getting roles, but we're not sure if that decision really came from her, she spends the day at home cleaning the house, and he seems to be lacking interest in her when he gets home. Meanwhile, she gets a phone call telling her that her gardener has been "detained" and there is a new one coming. Duke, the new gardener, shows up and the two of them start a bit of a flirtation...
"Private Practice" starts out strong and then completely falls apart. Ashley Benson makes Kathryn an engaging heroine and she makes us empathize with her and root for her, and Shiloh Hernandez plays Duke with just the right level of intrigue to make us know that there is definitely something more going on. And just when the movie hits a climactic moment, the entire film stops, shifts, and circles back in time to explain things. And what's worse, the movie then pushes its strongest asset -- Ashley Benson's Kathryn -- to the back burner in favor of other far less compelling characters. And when it finally comes back to the original flow, the movie just hurriedly rushes through its ending. And what's worse, some major events are in almost pitch darkness so we don't know what is really going on, they don't really explain the characters' motivation, and then there is a final sequence that is just a confusing mess. In addition, for an "erotic thriller" the "erotic" part is pretty scarce -- in one short scene Ashley Benson wears a bikini and the movie goes to outrageous lengths to make sure we don't actually see her in it, a couple of characters are watching her in a pool going on about how she is swimming naked but when we see her she is actually in a very conservative one-piece, etc.
"Private Practice" started out strong and I was enjoying it and was bummed out that it took such a wrong turn. A missed opportunity.
