What About Bob? (1991)

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Bob Wiley is a severe hypochondriac. His life is ruled by his fear of germs, going outside and his bladder exploding. When he meets his new therapist, the egotistical Leo Marvin, he starts to feel better about his fears. However, that's all dashed when Marvin tells Bob he's going on vacation for a month. Desperate and unable to deal with this, Bob follows Leo and his family to their vacation spot on the lake. Now, this may sound like a stalker movie-but trust me, it's anything but that."What About Bob?" is one of those incredibly underrated comedies that everyone seemed to have watched back when it came out ($60 million against a $30 million budget), but no-one seems to remember watching. It's quite a shame really, because the unlikely pairing of Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss is excellent. It's sort of your standard snob vs. slob story, but with the twist of patient vs. doctor. In some ways it's sort of a modern day "The Odd Couple". Bob is an absolute mess, whereas Dr. Marvin is (or at least he thinks he is) perfect in every way. The only legitimate complaint with the film is that Leo Marvin's anger towards Bob Wiley is too much too soon. It would have been nice to see Marvin's anger slowly build and build and build to it culminating to Marvin introducing Bob to "death therapy". But, that one gripe aside, "What About Bob?" needs to be seen. It's underrated, smart and incredibly funny.

"What about Bob" is one of the funniest movies ever made about people and their "analysts." The humor with the two male leads playing off one another, is very good. But interwoven in that is an obvious spoofing of the psyche professions. Richard Dreyfuss is Dr. Leo Marvin, a psychiatrist. Bill Murray is his patient, Bob Wiley. All of the roles of the Marvin family and others are played very well. And, they contribute some to the comedy. But this is really a love-hate comedy between Bob and Leo. The IMDb Web site and some reviewers give information about the various actors first sought or preferred for the main roles, especially that of Dr. Marvin. I couldn't see Woody Allen, Robin Williams or any other actor in that role, because they are of the same comedic ilk as Bill Murray. The comedy works only because there is a clash of characters. There has to be a straight man in this case, and I can't imagine anyone playing that role better than Dreyfuss does here. There's also considerable discussion of the dislike for one another between the two leads during the filming. That's all the more in favor of the match. Murray's role is very funny, as we would expect of Bill Murray. But much of it is only effective because of how it affects Leo. Dreyfuss shows his wonderful acting talent in the role he plays. It's a much more challenging task than that of Murray. This is a film of mostly crazy situations or encounters that lead to laughter. It has a few witty lines of dialog tossed in here and there. One of my favorite – and the proof that this film is a satire of the psychoanalysis fields, is when Leo and Fay step aside to talk privately. She asks, "Why are you so hostile to the man?" Leo replies, "Because he's a patient." Reading between the lines, that says that doctors and other analysts are supposed to be hostile to the patients who come to them for help and healing. I laughed out loud at that one. Much of this movie was shot in Virginia where Smith Mountain Lake stood in for New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee. The scenery shots are beautiful. Other viewers in the Trivia section and in comments point out the differences in trees especially between the two locales – of southern Virginia and central New Hampshire. Most adults and older children should find this film enjoyable.

A nice surprise was to notice that Frank Oz is the director of this movie as well. He has also done the "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels", a movie I have in my top 5. What is common in these two movies, is for sure, the great locations both of them are filmed, as well as the chemistry between the protagonists. Also the soundtrack of this two movies is very similar. During the movie is amazing how your compassion shifts from Bill Murray to Richard Dreyfuss and vice versa. At the end of course Richard Dreyfuss is to be pitied. Admitedly in the beginning what takes place in New York can make you think is a so and so comedy but when the action moves at the country house of the doctor then the movie becomes a masterpiece.The reason why the film works so well is not the slightly humdrum script, but the central comedic performances. Murray is fantastic as Bob, a highly annoying character that you end up liking. However, the unsung hero is Richard Dreyfuss as Dr Marvin; he is excellent as a man driven crazy by Bob's incessant nature. The chalk and cheese comedy double act is a staple of comedy and when they are done as well as this you can see why. This is an excellent comedy that has heart, laughs and great performances.Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

Bob Wiley (Bill Murray) is a wacky oddball. Doctor Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss) is a confident NY psychotherapist who is looking forward to a "Good Morning America" appearance to push his book. A colleague pawns Bob off to Leo as a new patient. Bob is immediately attached to Leo and his book's advise of Baby Steps. When Leo tells Bob that he's going on vacation with his family, Bob can't take it and tracks him down. Leo thinks his life is great, but not everything is going as well as he supposes. His townie neighbors hate him. His son is afraid to dive. His daughter hates to be over-analyzed and has normal boy troubles. His wife could do with more consideration from Leo. And worst of all, everybody loves Bob.Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss make for a great odd couple. They are both doing something within their skill sets. Bill Murray is especially wacky in this, and Dreyfuss plays annoyed very well without being completely unlikeable. One could certainly understand Leo's point of view, but it's also obvious how wrong he is.