The Heart Specialist (2006)

An Exercise In Nonsense

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Watched 20 minutes of this last night and stopped. My wife and I both agreed that nothing could save this film so why continue with the torture of watching. I understood the plot but the way they went about it was brutal. The transitions between scenes were horrible. It seemed to jump from one scene to another without any connection. Wood Harris was not the best actor to be cast in his part. I saw nothing positive out of this film to keep my interest. I love Zoe Saldana, but this will be just a tiny bump on her career. I feel for those who went to see it and had to sit there and suffer. I'm glad it was on Showtime so I simply just changed the channel.I have seen many reviewers like this film because it avoids the typical stereotypes and negative images that some films, built around a Black cast, tend to lean on. I say look at "Love Jones", "Love and Basketball", "The Best Man" and "Brown Sugar" as films that gave us a well rounded script which is built on all aspects of Black culture. If you are looking for the Indie style of film with a Black cast, I have enjoyed "Hav Plenty" and "I'm Through with White Girls." I've seen flaws with these films also but I would recommend them. As for "The Heart Specialist", I love seeing our people on the big screen, but I personally cannot recommend this film to anyone.

I think this was a great movie. It leaned on some stereo-types but in the end it also went against them. I think it was well written. Unfortunately I believe it will only resonate to African American people. I don't think many other races will get it. I really like how it was wrapped up in the end. As a single African American male it made me think. It got me involved with the characters. In the end it had me going Ohhhh. Even the parts that I did initially not like because of typical stereo-types made sense to me. It was also interesting to see Zoe in an early role in a movie that was not a block buster. She still had the same flair and great acting skills that made you want to care and become invested in the character to the point that you cared about what happened to her.

Tangie85 wrote: "I had to give this film a 10 simply because it did what so many films thrown at black audiences have FAILED MISERABLY to do. This film was void of all the video whore clichés, and it also skipped the gangsters, rappers, and foul language. It examined several relationships among physicians, African Americans, and African American male/female romantic relationships on a completely new and refreshing level." This is simply an EXCELLENT MOVIE, and as I watched it (before reading the above review), I was continually amazed at the intelligence manifested, without the ubiquitous African American stereotypes. Truly "a completely new and refreshing level" -- and first released 5 years ago in 2006! The director/writer (Dennis Cooper) & everyone involved deserves kudos. Thank you all for such a great movie. Special kudos to Zoe Saldana in 2006; we can see why you started getting top billings in blockbusters! So many movies are truly "blaxsploitation" movies, but as the other reviewer said, this is just a WHOLE NEW LEVEL. We were able to look at the real motives of the movie-maker, without being dragged and diverted into well-overdone stereotypes. My wife and I are now renting it for the second time! Again, thank you to all involved for this EXCELLENT PRODUCTION! A WONDERFUL film! By the way, I think Hollywood needs to take a fresh look at Mr. Cooper. Good viewing!

So I don't ruin it for you, I'll be very brief. There's some great acting and funny lines from the attractive cast. A young graduate of Harvard Med School (Brian White) finds out he doesn't know as much as he thinks about people. He goes to a small hospital in Florida for his internship because a girlfriend (Mya) left him for a job as a TV Producer. His Senior Resident (Wood Harris), helped marvelously by his 'creative collaborator'(Zoe Saldana) bring him up to speed. They help protect his career and show him the wider possibilities that come from being a compassionate doctor instead of a player who just wants to make money (as seems to be true for many of my pre-med friends).