Movie news on your iPhone today!
Advertisement
Sign in
Username   Password         Forgot password?
Wanna join? Sign up
Find movies you'll love
What About Bob?
  • 0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Rate this movie.

Watch trailer Watch trailer

Rent it, watch it, find it

Advertisement
Directed by Frank Oz
In this comedy about a doctor-patient relationship pushed way beyond the office, Bill Murray plays Bob Wiley, a neurotic New Yorker struggling with a whirlwind of paralyzing phobias. When an exasperated colleague pawns the handful off on Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss), the psychologist has no idea his last appointment will follow him north to New Hampshire on a month's vacation. Bob takes to Dr. Marvin's latest book like no therapy before it, so the well-meaning pest tracks Marvin down at his lakeside summer home to further discuss his problems. But Marvin, preparing for an interview on Good Morning America and a few weeks of R and R, views Bob's stalking as highly inappropriate, and demands he return to New York. But Bob can't take even the strongest hint, and sets up camp with a neighbor to indulge in his own "vacation" -- from his problems. Meanwhile, Marvin's son Sigmund (Charlie Korsmo), daughter Anna (Catherine Erbe), and wife Fay (Julie Hagerty) take to Bob's loopy charm, which Marvin views as an irritating threat. Marvin's temperature rises as Bob insinuates his way into the family, helping Sigmund learn to dive and counseling the previously ignored Anna. As Bob's stock continues to rise, and his to plummet, Marvin becomes increasingly unhinged as the minutes tick down to the interview. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
[More]
 
SpoutBlogSpoutBlog 10 Underrated Bill Murray Roles
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
hasn't rated it.
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Everyone loves Bill Murray, but only the die hard fans recognize the majority of his work. The rest, unfortunately, c " [More]
SpoutBlogSpoutBlog Bill Murray Jumps Out a Plane. ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
hasn't rated it.
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Bill Murray jumped out " [More]
All Movie Guide Logo
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
is neutral about it.
Consternation is Richard Dreyfuss' best comic emotion, and he gets to act out quite a bit of it courtesy of Bill Murray in the Frank Oz comedy What About Bob? Dreyfuss' Dr. Leo Marvin is a callous, self-absorbed S.O.B. -- when his wife (Julie Hagerty) asks why he's so hostile towards Bob, it's telling that he responds "Because he's a patient." Even so, his character is in the right, because Bob is intensely annoying as played by Murray, who chews much scenery in channeling his Carl Spackler role from Caddyshack, lazy-lipped slurring and all. The fact that the audience is supposed to relish Marvin's frustrations, and join the chorus of hurrahs for Bob, is a little disorienting, because it puts them in the wrong shoes. Nonetheless, it's possible to sympathize with the shrink's dilemma while still laughing at the ways a clueless patient can unwittingly invade his life. That the doctor achieves unprecedented success with the patient is all the more ironic, because it would massage his massive ego if it weren't such an intolerable disruption to his vacation. Screenwriters Alvin Sargent, Tom Schulman, and Laura Ziskin do take things a bit far out of the realm of belief by the end, which is just one of the factors -- another being not enough belly laughs -- that keep this from becoming one of Murray's undisputed classics. Dreyfuss' performance is the more positively memorable; when he mangles the command "Get out of the car!" into rushed gibberish, boiling over as only Dreyfuss can, it's priceless. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
 

Community ratings

mavens
Spout mavens
are neutral about it.
most people
Most people
are neutral about it.

Other opinions

porcupine
porcupine
loved it.
Shosman
Shosman
loved it.
immaBOHEMIAN
immaBOHEMIAN
loved it.
plastichandgun
plastichandgun
is not interested.
marincat
marincat
is not interested.
triage685
triage685
is not interested.