Step 1: Remember these three words about The Fourth Noble Truth: Meditation, mindfulness… and anger management. On the surface, The Fourth Noble Truth is a simple tale of a movie star named Aaron (Harry Hamlin), who has some anger issues that his lawyer wants him to deal with before he heads into court on a road-rage charge. Enter Aaron’s meditation teacher, Rachel (Kristen Kerr), who strives to calm him down and start him down the path of mindfulness. The only disturbance in the relaxation training, however, is the fact she’s always had a crush on him, which begins to add sexual tension to the proceedings. On Aaron’s part, what self-respecting bad boy would turn down a romp with his sexy meditation teacher?
Step 2: Embrace the romance. Writer/director Gary T. McDonald combines a story of redemption and transformation with Aaron and Rachel’s adult romance. Hamlin and Kerr sizzle with chemistry, acting like asteroids that gravitate towards one another, collide, separate and then collide again. As Rachel, Kerr aptly shows how she struggles against the attraction to Aaron, while trying her best to help him meditate and become more centered. For his part, Hamlin can play the lothario role in his sleep, but he does a nice job digging deeper, getting under the façade of a movie star character and emerging as a better person.
Step 3: Learn the truth. The film uses the four noble truths of Buddhism as a structural device that takes us through Aaron’s journey and the trajectory of the nascent relationship between Aaron and Rachel. The whole film is much like a meditation session, and we are allowed to reflect on our relationships and personal growth. It definitely moves slow, but in a summer filled with superheroes and action flicks, The Fourth Noble Truth is a nice change of pace. It draws you into its worldview of calm and serenity.