Review: What About Bob?

 

Richard Dreyfuss is a pompous shrink who brushes off a disturbed new patient named Bob (Bill Murray) to go on vacation with his family (Julie Hagerty, Kathryn Erbe, and Charlie Korsmo). Bob (whose best friend is his goldfish named ‘Gil’), being seriously troubled and desperately needing to stick to a routine, decides to find out where his doctor is vacationing and visit him, because he feels he needs help real bad. He feels abandoned. Dreyfuss is bemused bordering on simmering rage when Bob shows up out of nowhere, but because Bob is so polite and friendly, Dreyfuss’ family can’t help but take to the guy. Yep, definitely simmering rage now as Dreyfuss feels he’s the only one who sees a disturbed mental patient turning up to his shrink’s vacation spot uninvited as somewhat of a giant frigging problem.

 

Whether fuelled by the fact that stars Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss didn’t get along (just ask Dreyfuss), or their respective talents (and appropriate casting), this 1991 Frank Oz (the still underrated director of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”, “Bowfinger”, and the original “Death at a Funeral”) comedy would be so much lesser without the two of them. They’re both terrific and perfectly cast in an entertaining, clever, if not always gut-busting film.

 

The pompous shrink character played by Richard Dreyfuss could’ve come across as insufferably arrogant, maybe even a one dimensional villain. Dreyfuss certainly holds up his end of the bargain by playing this jerk to perfection, but the fact that his family is so sweet and loveable, and that they clearly love him, helps soften the blow. He’s a jerk to his new patient (he even gives him a copy of his book!), but he must have some redeeming qualities. It’s just that he treats his family like patients and, well, you can see how he treats his patients. Dreyfuss, as arrogant as he can seem at times throughout his career, is strangely somehow likeable too, which also helps (How the hell does he manage that?). It’s smart casting. Just as important as casting Dreyfuss as the cranky and pompous shrink, is the casting of Bill Murray as the patient. If Dreyfuss is cranky and arrogant, Murray’s Bob is a disarmingly child-like innocent, despite acting wholly inappropriate throughout. The joke is that he’s far more likeable than his doctor (his previous doctor calls him a ‘model patient’), and indeed it’s one of the most likeable characters Bill Murray has ever played. It’s the showier of the two roles, and Murray doesn’t disappoint (Though Robin Williams was also considered and he would’ve been excellent too). Almost all of the film’s laughs come from him, he’s hilarious from moment one. And yet, this guy is kind of a creepy stalker when you think about it. So if it weren’t for Murray giving Bob a childlike innocence and Dreyfuss being a pompous arse, the plot just wouldn’t work.

 

The one flaw with the whole film (apart from 25 year-old Kathryn Erbe looking like the oldest teen since Gabrielle Carteris and Luke Perry) is that Dreyfuss would surely call the cops pretty quickly in real life, and the only reason why he doesn’t is because the screenplay doesn’t have him do it. When you think about it, this could so easily be psycho-thriller material (especially if Bob weren’t so likeable). “Cape Fear” springs to mind. Turning it into a slightly dark comedy and then casting Bill Murray in the title role shows some real ingenuity. Sure, Dreyfuss’ character does seem a bit Frasier Crane-esque (especially when he finally loses his shit), but Dreyfuss is wonderfully bemused and arrogant just the same. But this is Murray’s showcase for sure, and his fans will love this. Is it a great comedy? No, and I do wish there were more laugh-out-loud moments (there’s a great line about Neil Diamond, though), but it is a display of two terrific talents nonetheless and solidly directed by Oz. The screenplay is by Tom Schulman (“Dead Poets Society”, “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”), from a story by veteran Alvin Sargent (“Julia”, “Ordinary People”) and producer Laura Ziskin (“Accidental Hero”).

 

Rating: B-