‘Breast Men’s’ Light Treatment Misplaced

A story about the development of silicone breast implants. Sounds like the stuff of high drama, right?

Not exactly. But the presence of “Breast Men,” a new HBO film, on the cable service guarantees the opportunity to provide plenty of visuals that would not make it past the broadcast networks’ program practices departments.

There are more than attractive visuals in the film, however. Despite the generic implications of the title, “Breast Men” refers to something beyond erotic preferences. It is, in fact, the label used around the plastic surgery profession to refer to physicians who specialize in breast reconstruction.

The film is an oddly fictionalized account of the combative history of two men who invented the silicone breast implant (a opening screen credit describes it as “basically a true story, slightly augmented”).

The chronicle moves across several decades, from the implants’ creation in Houston (perfectly epitomizing the slogan: “Everything’s bigger and better in Texas”) in the 1960s to the moratorium on the use of silicone implants in the early ‘90s, from the medical establishment’s initial resistance to the procedure to the virtual production-line frequency of its use in recent decades.

The two fictional pioneering physicians are played by David Schwimmer (“Friends”) and Chris Cooper (“Lone Star”). Schwimmer, as Dr. Kevin Saunders, an underpaid medical resident, produces yet another installment in his gallery of bumbling, nerdy characters. But to his credit, as the story progresses over several decades and Saunders’ fortunes ebb and flow, Schwimmer uncovers a surprisingly broad range of qualities--from sensitive to outright nasty--in the character.

Cooper’s rendering of the other major character, Dr. William Larson, is more monochromatic but consistent in its portrayal of a determinedly self-focused personality.

Director Lawrence O’Neill and producer Gary Lucchesi had great fun with the settings and costumes for the various eras, especially the easily satirized ‘70s.

But “Breast Men,” clearly intended as a dark comedy, as an effort to kick aside the politically correct attitudes of the mid-’90s, stumbled at its earliest stages of inception. With silicone implants continuing to cause serious problems for many women, the subject was not exactly a good choice for light entertainment. And the frequent full-frontal scenes of women’s breasts--attractive though they may be--have the clear ring of titillation (especially so in Schwimmer’s scenes with topless dancers).

Despite its intention to “turn the absurd aspects of real-life situations into provocative entertainment,” despite its occasional whimsical moments, “Breast Men” comes across as a too-easy exploitation of a still-sensitive subject.

* “Breast Men” will be shown at 9 tonight and Tuesday at 9 p.m. on HBO. The network has rated it TV-MA-LS (may not be suitable for children under the age of 17; contains explicit sexual activity and crude language.