Shrink (2009)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Hollywood shrink Dr. Henry Carter (Kevin Spacey) is a weed-smoking drunk at home since his wife's suicide. His clients are self-obsessed with various problem in the entertainment industry. His psychiatrist father (Robert Loggia) refers troubled student Jemma (Keke Palmer) to him. Jesus (Jesse Plemons) is his drug dealer.All these Hollywood stereotypes with their problems are really tiresome. The only interesting characters are Spacey and Palmer but only when they're together. They are an electric duo. Everything else is a horribly boring drag. I couldn't care less about his patients or his family or his friends or his dealer or him talking to anybody other than Palmer. So I only found this movie compelling for about fifteen minutes in total.

An enchanting modern-day movie starring A-list and actor extraordinaire Kevin Spacey plus a bevy of talent such as Dallas Roberts and Keke Palmer. Kevin Spacey plays Dr. Henry Carter, a head doctor who has lost himself in grief over the death of his beloved wife, a wife who didn't die in an auto accident, as his family and friends believe, but by killing herself. Dr. Carter enjoys buying his weed (pot) based upon their whimsical names; smoking pot is his method of coping with the pain and suffering of his loss. Dr. Carter looks sadder and more exhausted as each day goes by - he appears not long for this world and on the brink of a breakdown yet his patients keep coming and they are a hoot. He is a hoot as well, smoking pot in the back of his office, numbing himself.Dr. Carter's patients include film agents, actors, or people in the movie industry (self-centered people, they attempt to manipulate him during therapy). Another patient, the producer Patrick, (played by Dallas Roberts) is precious and spot-on. Patrick never stops; his mind and mouth are "on" 24/7. .Dr. Carter also adores Kate, one of his patients (played by Saffron Burrows) but her beauty and allure is only a wet bandage covering the gaping hole in his heart. Dr. Carter can't sleep or bathe, it appears, so he is in no shape of wooing any women. She also comes to his rescue when out hiking after he collapses when burying his dog.Dr. Carter experiences an pseudo-intervention where his father (played by Robert Loggia) and other well-meaning souls attempt to persuade him to enter rehab. This piece of the film is tragic and funny at the same time; Mr. Spacey never overacts, even when it would be so easy to do so. While this is the time Dr. Carter announces that his wife did, in fact, commit suicide, the sarcasm when he chastises one of the family members is so good that this scene left me in awe.Spoiler Alert: After the intervention, Dr. Carter's father (another shrink) insists he take the case of a teenager, Jemma, (played with aplomb by Keke Palmer) from the inner city that has anger issues. Jemma has her guard up; she does not bare her soul like the rest of his patients; she makes him read her file and he is surprised to find her mother killed herself. Jemma doesn't share her feelings easily and it takes time to build trust with Dr. Carter (just like in the real world). The relationship these two have is healing, in the end, as both understand the pain of not knowing why their loved ones did what they did; the letter Jemma's mother left her never answered the number one question her daughter had: why? We instantly know Dr. Carter's wife left him in the same state.Jemma's personal story is written on the sly (well, sort of) by Jeremy (Mark Webber)and the end result is a script which will help all of them.Spoiler alert: In the end, we understand Dr. Carter will make it, that is, he will not be following his wife down the path of death. There is hope for Dr. Carter.I thoroughly enjoyed this movie; the writing, casting, and acting are top notch.

Shrink (2009)We know the joke that is no joke at all--psychiatrists are the ones who need the help.The rest of the cast needs help, too, but Kevin Spacey is a perfectly dour, complex, troubled, and rather smart shrink. And if his performance is nuanced and powerful in an undramatic way, the large supporting cast is exceptional, too. Exceptional. There might be issues with the neat ending, or with some of the motivations here and there, but there is so much going on within this clearly deceptive world of Hollywood insiders and outsiders, almost anything goes.This is director Jonas Pate's first feature, after many t.v. episodes and some music video. That he coordinated such an involved plot, and made it look good, is impressive. That he got such an array of actors to be their idiosyncratic selves without too much strain and affectation is also impressive. It might help that I expected an ordinary film and found it extraordinary. It has an echo in many ways of "Short Cuts" and in many ways equals it, though that 1993 film had nothing but the highest expectations (Robert Altman directing, based on Raymond Carver stories). "Shrink" is refreshing in how it approaches Hollywood peripherally--not through a producer's office and some actors looking to make it, but through this psychiatrist who treats Hollywood's elite. There might be a sense, especially at first, that there is no clear direction to the plot. But that's a matter of having so many pieces, and they haven't started fitting together. I found each subplot engaging enough to lead me along quite happily right away. And so when it got more integrated, and the stakes of the characters were raised, the whole just got better and better.I'm not sure how this slipped by everyone's attention. Don't let it slip yours.

I love Kevin Spacey and believe he is more talented than just an actor. He has done his job for this movie and I wouldn't finish watching the movie if it wasn't for him. This movie has no script that pulls the attention of the viewer. It's just a compressed version of an ordinary TV series. This girl assigned for that shrink by the school, shrinks patient is a movie producer and his friend is a broke writer and they all find themselves interconnected throughout the movie.. What is this crap? Please be more creative, I would give a D grade if this script was handed in to me for screen writing class. Please do not shoot movies just because the right actors are hired. Read the script and get objective criticism first..