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Great comedy, one that uses Bill Murray's sheer likability to great effect. There has been a lot of talk on these forums about his performance in Ghostbusters --- Peter Venkman is essentially a prick, yet we all love him as the hero of that picture --- but in What About Bob?, Murray walks an even tighter line. He is an insane man doing insanely creepy things, but his amazing vulnerability (almost) keeps us from ever doubting that a family could fall in love with him. Richard Dreyfuss is the counterweight, and walks another tight line. He's not totally unlikeable, but he's a prick nonetheless. More than a few times I totally understood his viewpoint. But then the scene focuses on Murray again and I forgot what I was even thinking about. Really, a fascinating comedy. Two opposing arcs, one of redemption and acceptance, the other of insanity and anger, all happening in the face of the other. It gets a little kooky at the end, but the best part of this movie is how drat realistic it is in spite of the absurd two leads. Me likey! Although one part I will never, ever understand is why the family lets Murray sleep in the same room with their youngest son. Sure, they don't like their dad very much, but they don't listen at all when he says "This man is psychologically disturbed!" 4/5
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Jul 2, 2011 23:43
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 05:31 |
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I've seen this movie countless times and its always seemed to be the (comedic) story of one man's rise from crippling neurosis, OCD, and insanity, told alongside another man's descent into it even as the other rises out of it. With a summary like that you would think the movie a dark, gritty drama about hope and redemption, but honestly it's just loving hilarious. Includes such great lines as: "Is this corn handshucked?" and "The difference between me and those other guys, Bob, is I'm gonna kill ya." And the Gutmans are not to be missed either. If you like Bill Murray, watch this movie.
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Jul 9, 2011 10:02
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What About Bob? is basically a reinterpretation of the interplay between Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote. A stuffed-shirt, self-righteous blowhard (Dreyfuss) gets his comeuppance in the form a clever, pock-marked trickster (Murray). Pride comes before the fall, and Dreyfuss does great in his role of a psychiatrist and self-help guru whose delusions of grandeur come slowly unglued. Murray is genius of course--he's deeply neurotic or his interpretation of it. Is he actually crazy, or is he merely a con-man put on earth specifically to torment this one poor bastard? Usually I hate this Hollywood variety scientific scepticism meant to symbolize the fallibility of this house of cards we call reason, but when it shows an Academy AwardTM winner strapping a smart-alecky Bill Murray with a TNT corset I'll make an exception. Watch this if you want to laugh your rear end and the rear end of the person next to you off.
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Jul 9, 2011 17:38
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