MOVIE REVIEW

Don't shrink from 'The Treatment'

By John Anderson, Special to The Times

Show of hands, please: Does anyone want to see an amiable romantic dramedy by a maker of sobering religious documentaries? Yes, actually, you do.

Oren Rudavsky, whose previous work includes "Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust," has, along with co-screenwriter Daniel Saul Houseman, crafted an odd, funny film out of Daniel Menaker's novel "The Treatment." A New York fantasia that's as unpredictable as life (and, hence, immune to plot summary), it boasts a winning performance by Chris Eigeman, the Whit Stillman vet who combines the consternation of Albert Brooks with the sanguine ennui of Kyle McLachlan.

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As private school teacher Jake Singer, he has one glaring problem: an abusive psychiatrist (Ian Holm) who follows him around, popping out of closets or looming in bedrooms. Dr. Morales doesn't seem to be imaginary; Jake doesn't seem to be crazy. But the doctor-patient relationship is strained when Jake starts romancing widow Allegra Marshall (Famke Janssen) and Morales shows up talking about Jake's mother. It's an urban dream, of course — where else but in a fairy tale would Jake wind up with Allegra? — but it's also thoughtful, measured and, despite Morales, believable.

"The Treatment." MPAA rating: Unrated. Running time: 1 hour, 26 minutes. Laemmle's Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., (323) 848-3500; and Laemmle's Playhouse 7, 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 844-6500.