Doc Martin (2001)…

~Saturday~ Bob has had the two movies that were prequels to the television series, Doc Martin, in his Netflix queue for quite a while: Doc Martin (2001) and Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie (2003), and the 2001 one finally popped to the top.

Bob and I both absolutely love the TV series that was based on this movie, so we had very high expectations for it. Unfortunately, we were disappointed enough in it to decide to not watch the 2003 movie, and Bob removed it from his Netflix queue.

The synopsis

When an obstetrician learns that his wife has been unfaithful to him with all three of his best mates, he decides to leave London for a short while to think about what to do next. ~ From IMDB

The trailer

My thoughts and observations

  • I wanted to like this movie more than I did.
  • It was slow moving, particularly in the beginning, and I thought the “jelly thing” going on was kind of silly, mostly because it seemed silly to put a dry object in the middle of a wet glob.
  • I found it quite implausible that all three of the doc’s “mates” had slept with his wife. I also found it a little frustrating that she never clearly states why she did it.
  • One of things I enjoy about watching the TV series with Bob is when he points out medical inaccuracies in the script. This happened in the movie, too, and it made me smile. “He wouldn’t be able to talk with that trach[ea] in his throat.” LOL.
  • I’m glad the Doc Martin character (known as Doctor Bamford in this movie) evolved to what it is in the TV series.
  • Themes touched on in this movie included:
    • Just up and leaving to get away from it all
    • Cheating and jealousy
    • Finding oneself
    • Fitting in—particularly in a new town and with new people
    • Flirting and attraction
    • Doing the more difficult thing in the end
  • I gave a half-a-thumb’s up to this movie.

Have you seen this movie? If so, what did you think of it?

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