What About Bob?

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This article is about the film. For the Entourage episode, see What About Bob? (Entourage). For the Dresden Files episode, see What About Bob? (Dresden). For the Eureka episode, see What About Bob? (Eureka).
What About Bob?

Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by Frank Oz
Produced by Laura Ziskin
Co-Producer:
Bernard Williams
Written by Screenplay:
Tom Schulman
Story:
Alvin Sargent
Laura Ziskin
Starring Bill Murray
Richard Dreyfuss
Julie Hagerty
Music by Miles Goodman
Cinematography Michael Ballhaus
Editing by Anne V. Coates
Distributed by Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s) May 17, 1991
Running time 99 min.
Country  United States
Language English

What About Bob? is a 1991 comedy film directed by Frank Oz, and starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. Murray plays Bob Wiley, a multiphobic psychiatric patient who follows his successful and (beyond) egotistical psychiatrist Dr. Leo Marvin (played by Dreyfuss) on vacation. When the unstable Bob befriends the other members of Marvin's family, it pushes the doctor over the edge.

Murray improvised so many lines during the movie that accurate scripts couldn't be written until after shooting the scenes.[citation needed]

This film is number 43 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". This film was made in Tamil as Thenali.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

When Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss), a psychiatrist smug from the fame of his well-publicized book, goes on vacation to Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire, he leaves his new patient, Bob Wiley (Bill Murray), on his own with a copy of Marvin's latest book, "Baby Steps." Bob is a man who has a good work ethic and treats people well, but he suffers from multiple phobias and is divorced from his first wife on the basis they could not agree on being fans of Neil Diamond. Dr. Carswell Fensterwald (Brian Reddy), Bob's former psychiatrist, moves Bob to Dr. Marvin, stating to Leo that he is quitting his practice for a while, but is in actuality driven to the brink of a nervous breakdown from having to treat Bob.

Bob, terrified that he can’t make it without his doctor, contacts him twice by phone. Leo, however, makes it quite clear that he has no desire to work on his vacation. Desperate, Bob fakes his own death and poses as a homicide detective in order to find out where Leo's vacation home is. Bob then takes a bus to New Hampshire, where arriving at a gas station he begins frantically calling Leo's name. Upon seeing him, Leo is visibly upset, but agrees to call Bob at a local coffee shop. In return, Bob is to return to New York via bus as soon as their session is over.

Bob waits diligently until just after 3:00pm. At this point, a chance comment alerts the Guttmans (Tom Aldredge and Susan Willis), the proprietors of the coffee shop, that Dr. Marvin is going to call him. The Guttmans have nursed a vicious grudge against Leo, who purchased the vacation home which they had been saving to buy. Sensing a chance to make Leo miserable, the Guttmans offer to drive Bob directly there. After making his point to Bob about not being able to see him on vacation, Leo writes him a prescription saying, "Take a vacation from your problems." Bob seems to have made a breakthrough, but arrives the next morning and explains to Leo that he has decided to take a vacation both in spirit and in fact, and that Lake Winnapasaukee is ideal, given that Bob reveals he has never taken a vacation in his life. He also tells Leo that the Guttmans (who are more than happy to have Bob as their guest) have suggested that he visit the Marvins as a friend, not a patient.

Leo's family is increasingly charmed to have Bob with them. However, Bob's presence causes a number of events that shatter Leo's characteristic calm demeanor and transform him into a walking time bomb. First of all, Bob befriends Leo's kids, Anna (Kathryn Erbe) and Sigmund (Charlie Korsmo), named for psychiatrist Sigmund Freud and his daughter, Anna Freud. Anna is a typical teenage girl, distraught over having to deal with a father that communicates with her through hand puppets and other psychological aids. Bob is able to relate to her in a down-to-earth manner, and she invites him to go sailing with her friends. Having never sailed before, Bob is nervous at first, but then decides to try the new experience (although he firmly ties himself to the mast while proudly yelling to the world "I'm sailing!"; thus overcoming one of his apprehensions). When an enraged Leo objects to Anna fraternizing with his patient, she accuses her father of being insensitive, of never listening, and of not being any fun. To Leo's horror, she says that Bob is just the opposite.

Sigmund, however, believes that he has lost his childhood and has an obsessive fixation with the inevitability of death. Bob, just having gained more confidence from his cruise, relates to Sigmund that problems should be dealt with in a piecemeal fashion and helps Sigmund gain enough confidence to dive into the water (a feat Leo was previously unable to accomplish). He also persuades Sigmund that Tourette’s syndrome is much a better focus for his fear. However, in anger, Leo shoves Bob into the lake, which annoys the rest of his family and creates more sympathy for Bob.

To Leo's further horror, his wife Fay (Julie Hagerty) invites Bob over for dinner to make up for Leo's rudeness. Bob continues to irritate Leo by overtly savoring the home-cooked meal. Leo starts choking on a piece of chicken and Bob performs the Heimlich maneuver to save his life. When a thunderstorm prevents Bob from going back to the Guttman house, Leo is forced to let him spend the night.

The next morning, Leo anxiously prepares for a live interview with Good Morning America to publicize his book. He tries frantically to get Bob to leave before the TV crew arrives, to no avail, and Bob is actually allowed to appear on camera with a frazzled Leo. A calm Bob heaps praise on "Baby Steps" and completely steals the limelight, and the viewing Guttmans laugh that Bob has embarrased Leo. After the TV crew leaves, an outraged Leo throws a massive tantrum, kicks Bob out of the house and, after appearing to have calmed down, takes Bob to a mental institution.

Leo returns home, ecstatic that he has outsmarted Bob. As soon as he arrives, however, he receives a phone call from Dr. Catherine Tomsky (Doris Belack) from the institution. Leo returns to find that Bob has completely charmed the doctors, nurses and other staff, and convinced them he is perfectly sane. Leo grudgingly picks Bob up, but throws an even bigger tantrum when Bob suggests that they meet for multiple therapy sessions. Leo orders Bob out of the car in the middle of nowhere and drives off.

Hurrying away from Bob, Leo is pulled over for speeding, gets a flat tire and is covered with mud from the wake of a passing car. It is nightfall when Leo returns home, beyond enraged.

Upon walking out onto the veranda, Leo is surprised by the birthday party which Fay has been secretly planning for him. The sight of his friends, colleagues, and especially his beloved sister Lily (Fran Brill) seem to put him in much better spirits. All of a sudden, Bob appears and puts his arm around Lily. This is the final straw; Leo becomes completely psychotic, roaring to the bewildered Bob to keep away from Lily, then attacking Bob. Fay reluctantly informs Bob that while Leo's behavior is inexcusable, it appears Leo has some sort of unexplained grudge against Bob, and Bob sadly agrees to leave once and for all.

Meanwhile, Leo sneaks out of the house and breaks into a sporting goods store, stealing a shotgun and 20 pounds of black powder. Bob, walking down the road, is terrified of being by himself and walks back, calling out Leo’s name. At that moment, Leo finds Bob and then kidnaps Bob at gunpoint, ties him to a log, and straps the explosives to him, maniacally labeling the bombs as "Death therapy, Bob. It's a guaranteed cure."

Leo, overjoyed to be free at last, returns to his house and dances around the yard. Bob, however, is convinced the explosives are fake, and its all just more radical therapy. Using Leo's "Baby Step" approach to tackling large problems, Bob unties his knots and returns to Leo and the family at the vacation home's dock, holding Leo's birthday cake, happily proclaiming that Leo has cured him. Leo, astounded to see Bob again, fretfully asks where the bags full of explosives are, to which Bob answers that he left them in the house. At that moment, Leo's extravagant house is blown to pieces, and the therapist's cherished bust of Sigmund Freud lands at the family's feet. The Guttmans, who witnessed the explosion while pleasure boating, happily chant "Burn! Burn! Burn!"

In the aftermath, Leo has become completely catatonic and is temporarily institutionalized under the watch of Dr. Tomsky. Later, at his Lily's wedding to Bob, Leo recovers his senses just as Lily and Bob are pronounced husband and wife, when he realizes Bob is now his brother-in-law, screaming a desperate, "NO!" His words are lost in his family's joy at having him back and his sister's happiness at being married. A title card appears in the end that says:

"Bob went back to school and became a psychologist.

He then wrote a huge best seller: Death Therapy.

Leo is suing him for the rights."

[edit] Cast

[edit] Production notes

  • The house used in the filming still stands. The exploding house was a prop house built for the explosion on a nearby lake front lot; the local inhabitants gathered to watch the explosion from land and boats.
  • The scenes of Bob arriving in town on the bus with his goldfish were filmed in downtown Moneta, which was spruced up and repainted for the movie.
  • The local institute which Leo tries to commit Bob in is actually the local Elks Home for retirees in the nearby town of Bedford, Virginia.
  • Originally director Frank Oz had Woody Allen in mind for the role of Dr. Leo Marvin, given Allen's reputation for quirkiness in his films. Allen declined the role, and Richard Dreyfus ultimately was cast.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Frank Oz
1980s
1990s
What About Bob? (1991) • HouseSitter (1992) • The Indian in the Cupboard (1995) • In & Out (1997) • Bowfinger (1999)
2000s
The Score (2001) • The Stepford Wives (2004) • Death at a Funeral (2007)
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