Premise: A mysterious psychologist has an odd take on dealing with his patients' issues.
Stars: Pruitt Taylor Vince * Mary McDonnell * Jason Lee * Alfre Woodard * Zooey Deschanel * Ted Danson * Hope Davis * Loren Dean * Martin Short
Story: Mumford (Dean) is a psychologist who has recently moved to the town of Mumford. He sees various patients, including a man who lives through his fantasies (Vince), a rich young man who has no friends (Lee), a goth trying to figure out who she is (Deschanel), and a shopaholic mother (McDonnell).
He refuses to take on a lawyer (Short) as a patient, leading to the lawyer as well as the established local psychologist and psychiatrist taking an interest in Mumford's history. He also takes the case of a young woman (Davis) who is suffering from depression, only to fall in love with her.
However, he has a past he has been trying to escape. As his competition start digging, the town's fascination with the TV show Unsolved Mysteries ends up revealing to everyone his sordid history.
Review: I liked it. Aside from the main character's history prior to arriving in the eponymous town, the movie is positive and encouraging. Dean and Davis are a cute couple, Deschanel's debut performance is indicative of her future cute and quirky characters, and Vince and McDonnell are charming in their roles.
The two plotlines - Mumford and his effect on residents of the town and the investigation initiated by the lawyer - play off each other well by pacing the movie. Additionally, the conversations with the different patients and the development of their cases provide humour as well as a slight pathos that keeps the film interesting.
There is a nice payoff at the end of the two main plots as well as the subplots.
Overall: Good
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
No comments:
Post a Comment