John Brooks 'What About Bob' is one of those early 90's comedies that had a point but made an effort to feel genuine. Comedies nowadays in the 2010's feel so distant and over-produced, and formulaic, it's very refreshing to watch one of those older generation flicks every once in a while.There's much...much to be done in what the film means to achieve, in so little time, just under 1hr40min. It's pretty remarkable they managed to squeeze in about enough that the film and ending in particular don't feel completely rushed to the point of reaching random levels.It's very good with some details, for e.g. how annoying and realistically annoying they made Bill Murray (I want, I need I need I need !) and the sense of pure antipathy established in the very first seconds the two protagonists meet. Dreyfuss certainly does well and anyone would remember his facial expression of pure disgust for another person, but perhaps it would've been desirable he would completely leave a rather conventional acting style, however fine, and gone totally headfirst deep into the role.It's a pretty good comedy. Again, it's really fairly ambitious. It's no masterpiece, but it's very memorable, it's fun, and it's got a very interesting moral to it too.7.5/10.

jimbo-53-186511 Psychotherapist Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss) is looking forward to his month long vacation with his family, but accepts one final 'session' with Bob Wiley (Bill Murray) who is a patient of a 'recently' retired doctor. The initial session between doctor and patient proves to be a success, but when Wiley learns that Marvin is going to be away for a month, Wiley makes it his mission to track his doctor down...I really wanted to like this film as Bill Murray is the best of his kind at this sort of film when the material is right, but this film is so off-the-wall that it's almost hard to know where to begin..I'm prepared to accept that it starts well; it establishes Murray as a neurotic patient and Dreyfuss as the indifferent shrink who seems more interested in money than in helping out his patient - you feel as though the film has a sense of karma about it when the credits roll...And yet I could never entirely enjoy this film and that's mainly down to the tone; for a start Bob is introduced as a wacko character, but the film offers no real understanding of his character. From an early stage, this makes his character hard to identify with or get to grips with, but then it gets worse...In order to track down his doctor, Bob then impersonates a detective 'investigating' a suicide which for all intents and purposes everyone believes is Bob's suicide. Bob does this to find out where his doctor is spending his vacation. All of this is achieved by Bob in a cold and calculating manner and not in a way that can be laughed off in an 'idiot learns things by fortuitous luck' way such as in films like Dumb and Dumber. This is all a bit creepy and suggests that Bob is more savvy than he lets on that he is.The film then carries on in this weird and morose way; Murray hangs round the family home and ingratiates himself with Dreyfuss' family, but rather than being amusing and funny, it just comes off as a bit weird and Marvin's family readily accepting Bob into their home is also rather difficult to accept or believe. I also found it funny that Murray made a big issue at the start of the film about his character being agoraphobic, and yet this aspect of the story was ignored in the second half of the film - he seemingly has no problems in the great outdoors later in the film which makes no sense from a narrative perspective.I think the worst thing about this film is that it offers no commentary on patient mental health problems; films like Dream Team and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest do at least try and put a positive spin on their characters and on their mental health problems which makes these films funnier, deeper and generally more endearing. Bill Murray puts on a good show here, but his character is given no real dimension, endearing qualities or depth and a result of these things we're given no real reason to give a damn about what happens to his character. In order to try to be funny in the later stages the film tries to suggest that the doctor is perhaps as crazy as the patient but it never really works. I found the film a little too socially awkward and found that the scenario that was presented to me never allowed me to laugh as much as I should do and it also never had enough believability about it to make it work.The main reason that this film is getting 4 stars out of 10 is for Bill Murray's efforts - I felt that he did what the director told him to do and got the most out of his role. Richard Dreyfuss was great and the child actors were also good. This leaves me with Julie Hagerty who unfortunately put in a terrible performance as Dreyfuss' wife.Sadly the tonal imbalance left me with a film that was more creepy and disturbing than funny and unfortunately whilst watching this film I found myself stopping and wondering 'Should I be laughing here' and 'Is this something I should find funny?' For me, if you need these prompts then the film simply isn't funny.

calvinnme In fact, it is such light entertainment it is one of the few films that mental hospitals will let their patients watch! And no, I don't know this because I was an inmate.It's the story of two men - Bob and Dr.Leo Marvin. Bob is a man so tied up in his obsessive compulsions he can barely move. Thus he works at home in NYC and lives a simple life. However, he does see the value of therapy and apparently has been through a number of psychiatrists, all of whom he pesters to the point that they pass him off to someone else and leave town.The latest doctor to be duped into taking Bob (Bill Murray) as a patient is Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss). He has precisely one session with Bob, gives him a copy of his latest book - "Baby Steps", and tells him he will see him next month because he is going on vacation. This sends Bob into a panic because the one constant in his life has been his tenacious hold on his series of psychiatrists. Bob's decision - he will "baby step" his way to New Hampshire and go on vacation where Dr. Marvin is.Now you see, Bob is actually quite likable to anybody who is NOT a psychiatrist, and he quickly bonds to Dr. Marvin's family and even helps the Marvins' son with some of his hang-ups in a way that Leo has never been able to do. You also have to realize that, like Bob, Leo is a guy with a lot of rigid rules about everything himself. In many ways he is as hung up as Bob is, but in socially acceptable ways. The result is that Bob violating all of Dr. Marvin's rules slowly drives Dr. Marvin nuts, while basically adopting Dr. Marvin's family makes Bob much better.I'll let you watch and see how this all turns out. Let me just say that this is not One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - it is a comedy for the entire family and a very good one at that. A ten year old could watch it and not be stressed. Kids much younger than that could watch it, but they just might not get it. Highly recommended.

wes-connors Disheveled and germ-phobic Bill Murray (as Bob Wiley) follows disinterested and egotistical New York psychiatrist Richard Dreyfuss (as Leo Marvin) to the latter's New Hampshire vacation home. There, the mentally challenged Mr. Murray proceeds to drive Mr. Dreyfuss crazy. "There are two types of people in this world," explains Murray, "those who like Neil Diamond and those who don't." That being said, this sort of comedy is a lot like Neil Diamond. Naturally, "Bob" would be a perfect part for 1960s super-star Jerry Lewis..."What About Bob?" gives its bankable star a goofy and endearing role in a mainstream vehicle. Director Frank Oz had just successfully served up "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" for Steve Martin. Comedy screenwriter Tom Schulman aces his script. The formula calling for an "actor" co-star is filled exceptionally well by Mr. Dreyfuss. His reactions are what gives the early parts some laughs. Murray's psycho is silly; he's always better playing smart, and gets better in later scenes. Fewer extreme close-ups would have been a nice idea.***** What About Bob? (5/17/91) Frank Oz ~ Bill Murray, Richard Dreyfuss, Julie Hagerty, Charlie Korsmo