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
Comment
10/06/09
Shrink (2009)
26
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:47
Fresh:12
Rotten:35
Average Rating:4.5/10
Consensus: Kevin Spacey's performance is almost sharp enough to save Shrink, but in the end, he's dragged down by a cliched script and indifferent direction.
Theatrical Release:Jul 24, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $93,250
Synopsis: What happens when the people we count on to hold us together...are barely holding it together themselves? Jonas Pate's Shrink is a striking, fast-paced expose of the "other" Hollywood, featuring... [More]
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Mark Webber, Keke Palmer, Saffron Burrows
Director: Jonas Pate
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Reviews for Shrink
It's another Los Angeles movie that is alternately self-congratulatory and self-pitying...
09/28/09
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.
09/26/09
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.
08/20/09
Top Critic[The characters'] fates, naturally, intertwine, with a resolution that could only occur in Hollywood.
08/14/09
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.
08/06/09
Spacey is mesmerizing as the "compassion fatigued" Carter. The pain and anger of his character are palpable, as is his heart-wrenching frustration.
08/03/09
Shrink reminds us why Kevin Spacey matters.
08/01/09
...ultimately less successful as a fully-realized drama than as a showcase for its myriad of talented actors.
07/31/09
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.
07/31/09
Top CriticThe 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.
07/31/09
Top CriticThe performances will hold your attention -- Dallas Roberts is particularly manic and fetching in his role -- and the inside-Hollywood setting is a bit of a guilty pleasure.
07/31/09
There really was a much better comedy here than melodrama.
07/31/09
Top CriticSome 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.
07/31/09
Top CriticNo 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.
07/31/09
Top CriticIt's ironic that the movie is called Shrink, because it practically shrinks before your eyes.
07/31/09
Directed by Jonas Pate and written with a nice ear for self-delusion by Thomas Moffet, Shrink mixes cliches with some pleasant surprises.
07/31/09
Top CriticIn seeking to depict the shallowness of Hollywood life, it's hard not to appear shallow yourself.
07/31/09
Top CriticShrink is no worse than the average Hollywood comedy. But it shows, more obviously than most, the bankruptcy of standard-issue American pop narrative, circa 2009.
07/31/09
Top CriticIt's almost farcical, and at some point, Judd Apatow is going to make one of these movies as a comedy, the way he skewered the musical biopic with Dewey Cox.
07/30/09
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August 26, 2009:
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