Average Rating: 4.6/10
Reviews Counted: 62
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 44
Kevin Spacey's performance is almost sharp enough to save this Hollywood dramedy from itself, but in the end, he's dragged down by a cliched script and indifferent direction.
Average Rating: 4.4/10
Critic Reviews: 24
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 18
Kevin Spacey's performance is almost sharp enough to save this Hollywood dramedy from itself, but in the end, he's dragged down by a cliched script and indifferent direction.
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Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 41,860
A jaded psychiatrist takes on a pro bono case that puts his professionalism to the ultimate test in director Jonas Pate's knowing exposé of the "other" Hollywood. Between sorting through the insecurities of a fading film starlet (Saffron Burrows), a struggling writer (Mark Webber), and an obsessive-compulsive talent agent (Dallas Roberts), A-list psychiatrist Henry Carter (Kevin Spacey) barely has the time to deal with his own problems. Suddenly, into the middle of Henry's malaise wanders a
Jul 24, 2009 Wide
Sep 29, 2009
$93.2k
Roadside Attractions
All Critics (62) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (20) | Rotten (44) | DVD (4)
Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward, and when those sparks emanate from a doobie clutched by Kevin Spacey, a smug critique of the American dream is sure to follow.
I'm not his manager, but I wonder if Kevin Spacey would profit from laying off the sardonic, disaffected, emotionally numb characters for a while. They're criminally easy for him at this point in his career.
The characters are so flatly conceived and their dilemmas so familiar that you wonder if the filmmakers even aspired to be original. Luckily, Kevin Spacey plays Carter with scene-saving grace.
There really was a much better comedy here than melodrama.
Some of the humor is delicious. And there are a few fine moments of truth and pathos, most of them addressing a subset of grief often ignored on film.
No one knows why bad things happen to good people. But we do know why bad things happen to good film ideas. They get ruined by poor scripts and indifferent direction.
The film, expertly played by actors who look as if they know exactly what they are talking about, is a bit like a voyeur's view of the Hollywood we only hear about in scandal sheets.
Shrink neatly intertwines the lives of the leading characters in a manner reminiscent of Robert Altman's Short Cuts but without that film's haunting poignancy.
A limply-organised multi-story snoozefest from Jonas Pate.
Though it dwells on the seamier side of showbiz -- a seedy, pill-popping actor and a slutty casting-couch actress turn up in subplots -- it ultimately buys into the fantasy land it had started out debunking.
Blackly funny but never as vicious as it clearly wants to be, this rather nihilistic look at modern society keeps us hooked with desperate and lost characters who all have a whiff of soulful humanity.
Sharp and edgy but with a touching warmth, this satire piques the heart as well as the funny bone.
Throw it in the shark tank with Crash, Grand Canyon, Magnolia, etc.
Shrink has fine acting, intriguing characters and moments of humor and pathos, but I left the theater feeling a bit cheated.
It's an impressively convoluted piece of writing, but it loses it shine when it becomes clear that neither Moffett nor Pate know where they are going with these stories
It's another Los Angeles movie that is alternately self-congratulatory and self-pitying...
Though a little too interconnected when it comes to narrative coincidences, the emotional intensity laced with deliciously dark humor and nasty neo-screwball wit, outweighs the gimmickry.
Though a little too interconnected when it comes to narrative coincidences, the emotional intensity laced with deliciously dark humor and nasty neo-screwball wit, outweighs the gimmickry.
[The characters'] fates, naturally, intertwine, with a resolution that could only occur in Hollywood.
As all of Shrink's seemingly disparate stories begin to fall too cleverly into each other, it's easy to be distracted by some fine performances.
Spacey is mesmerizing as the "compassion fatigued" Carter. The pain and anger of his character are palpable, as is his heart-wrenching frustration.
Shrink reminds us why Kevin Spacey matters.
...ultimately less successful as a fully-realized drama than as a showcase for its myriad of talented actors.
Too much crowd, but almost everyone did right to their part, without which it'd have been a challenge to watch the movie.In the wake of my conscience (BTW, did I ever tell you that it exists??), I couldn't help myself leaving this comment without mentioning that Kevin Spacey was, as usual, incredible.
November 28, 2009Super Reviewer
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Keke Palmer, Jack Huston, Saffron Burrows, Mark Webber, Dallas Roberts, Griffin Dunne, Pell James, Andrew Sibner, Robin Williams, Laura Ramsey, Robert Loggia, Jesse Plemons, Gore Vidal, Derek Alvarado Director: Jonas Pate Summary: In the wake of a personal tragedy, Hollywood's psychiatrist to the
September 24, 2009
Super Reviewer
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