What About Bob?

What About Bob?
File:What About Bob film.jpg Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by	Frank Oz
Written by	Screenplay: Tom Schulman Story: Alvin Sargent Laura Ziskin
Produced by	Laura Ziskin Co-Producer: Bernard Williams
Starring	Bill Murray Richard Dreyfuss Julie Hagerty
Cinematography	Michael Ballhaus
Edited by	Anne V. Coates
Music by	Miles Goodman
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures
Release dates	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. Upon seeing his performance at the world premiere, Steven Spielberg spent $250,000 on a campaign to not only get Bill Murray nominated for the Best Leading Actor Academy Award but actually win it. Murray didn't receive a nomination and he on several occasions has attempted to pay Spielberg back, but Spielberg refused.

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

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

Plot summary

When Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss), a trained psychiatrist, 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 very nice man, but he suffers from multiple phobias. His last psychiatrist, Dr. Carswell Fensterwald (Brian Reddy), driven to the brink of a nervous breakdown, is quitting his practice for a while and leaving town to get away from 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 promises 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, which is glad to accept (although he firmly ties himself to the mast). When an enraged Leo objects to her spending time 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 becomes a father figure to him 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.

To Leo's further horror, his wife Fay (Julie Hagerty) invites Bob over for dinner. Bob continues to irritate Leo by going "Mmmmmm. Mmmmmm." during dinner. 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 Leo, and completely steals the limelight. 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 therapy sessions. Leo kicks 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, attacking the bewildered Bob. Fay reluctantly informs Bob that he is the cause of Leo's instability, 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 noticed the explosion, happily chant "Burn! Burn! Burn!"

In the aftermath, Leo has become completely catatonic and is temporarily institutionalized under the watch of Catherine. Later, at his sister Lily's wedding to Bob, Leo recovers his senses just as Lily and Bob are pronounced husband and wife, screaming a desperate, "NO!" His words are lost in his family's joy at having him back. 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."

Cast

• Bill Murray - Bob Wiley
• Richard Dreyfuss - Dr. Leo Marvin
• Julie Hagerty - Fay Marvin
• Charlie Korsmo - Sigmund Marvin
• Kathryn Erbe - Anna Marvin
• Tom Aldredge - Mr. Guttman
• Susan Willis - Mrs. Guttman
• Roger Bowen - Phil
• Fran Brill - Lily Marvin
• Brian Reddy - Carswell Fensterwald, M.D.
• Doris Belack - Dr. Catherine Tomsky
• Melinda Mullins - Marie Grady, Good Morning America Interviewer
• Marcella Lowery - Betty, Switchboard Operator
• Margot Welch - Gwen, Switchboard Operator
• Barbara Andres - Claire, Dr. Marvin's Secretary
• Aida Turturro - Prostitute
• Stuart Rudin - Crazy Man in New York Street
• Cortez Nance Jr. - Lobby Doorman
• Lori Tan Chinn - Bus Driver
• Dennis Scott - Motorcycle Cop (as Dennis R. Scott)
• Charles Thomas Baxter - Nursing Home Guard
• Donald J. Lee Jr. - Nursing Home Attendant
• Reg E. Cathey - Howie, Good Morning America Director
• Tom Stechschulte - Lennie, Good Morning America Producer
• Russell Bobbitt - Good Morning America Crew Member
• Richard Fancy - Minister
• Joan Lunden - Herself
• April Cantor - (uncredited)

Production notes

• The movie was filmed in and around the town of Moneta, Virginia located on Smith Mountain Lake. Production had to go south because at the real Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, the leaves were already turning for the fall season.

• 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.

External links

• What About Bob? at IMDb
• What About Bob? at AllMovie
• What About Bob? at Rotten Tomatoes