Shrink (2009, R)

This one's last day to stream on Netflix is tomorrow (Friday, 9/28/12, sorry for the short notice), but hopefully it comes back soon [update 9/29/12: it's back].  If not, and if you'll like it as much as I did, then it's worth renting anyway.  It stars Kevin Spacey who I love in everything I see him in (21, K-Pax, American Beauty, Se7en, The Usual Suspects, Pay It Forward... ::happy sigh::  Watch all of those movies if you haven't already.  I'll say K-Pax and Se7en are optional, but still quite good IMHO.  It made me sad to see Superman Returns).  He plays a psychologist in southern California who is getting over the tragic loss of his wife.   Well, I shouldn't say "getting over", more like "suffering from".  He's in a bad way as we find out early in the film.  He's drinking a lot, smoking pot all day every day, sleeping on his pool chair or couch or whatever non-bed he finds handy when sleep overcomes him (he does have a bed, and a nice one at that, he just never uses it).  I would actually compare this movie to Everything Must Go with Will Ferrell (Step-Brothers, Anchorman) which is also very good, though you would never expect Ferrell to star in a drama about an alcoholic hitting rock-bottom (excellent film also btw, I highly recommend it).  Both are dramas and sad ones at that, but unlike many other of the most notable dramas (like Animal Factory or Trainspotting) it's never soul-crushingly so I can watch it all the way through and experience the mood of the tale but not feel like I'm suffering for it.  I wouldn't have to brace myself for certain scenes like I would with the alternatives I just mentioned.

I had not heard of the film before encountering it as a suggestion for me on Netflix, so I didn't know what to expect, but one of the first things I noticed as the movie started was that it had solid production quality.  I don't want that to sound snobbish, but a clear picture from good film stock and proper lighting really streamlines the process of getting the cast and crew's story through my eyes and into my head.  Spacey and the rest of the cast did a fine job in their roles.  Mark Webber was also in the movie as an aspiring screenwriter and family friend/client to Spacey.  I couldn't remember where I knew Webber from at the time, but now that I'm at my computer I can find out that he was in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World  and Good Dick (which is not a porno, I swear); he's never the lead role, but I tend to like his characters.

I don't want to spoil any of the plot (that's one of the main goals of this blog), but the film does revolve around several main characters who have some interactions with each other if only brief and tenuous.  All of the characters are very much characters and have their own problems that need to be dealt with, perhaps aided in part by a psychologist if he can pay attention through the whole therapy session.  Like any good drama should, this one has a couple moments of lightheartedness and humor to break up the sadness and overall I liked it a lot.  It's not a fast-paced movie, more of a mood setting work, but I think the pacing worked well for it.  There were times when I thought a scene was going to go to a bad place (one I think is worse than the already bad place the characters are in) but was relieved that the characters tend to be good-natured despite a tendency to screw up (one guy is a jerk, but he's not harmful and tends to provide some of the light humor scenes to the film).

If you like Kevin Spacey movies, or Mark Webber movies, or dramas that don't kill you to watch, then this is the movie for you.  If you don't want to sit still through a montage of two young people hanging out and learning to enjoy life again and would rather watch something with more action, this is not the movie for you (but my next review very well might be: stay tuned!).  I really liked it; for me I'd probably give it 4, 4.5 stars.