What About Bob?

What About Bob? is a 1991 American comedy film directed by Frank Oz and starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss.

Plot
Bob Wiley, an irritating patient who follows his self-centered psychotherapist Dr. Leo Marvin on vacation. When the unstable Bob befriends the other members of Leo's family, it pushes the doctor over the edge.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Great acting especially from Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss with the latter doing lots of improvisation with his role.
 * 2) The film executes its premise pretty well despite this being something that you would see in a horror movie with a psychiatrists patient stalking the psychiatrist and his family.
 * 3) Lots of decent humor throughout the film, like when Leo tells Bob to express himself during their first session, the latter lets loose a stream of curse words, with Leo's secretary listening with a nonplussed look on her face.
 * 4) Good cinematography.
 * 5) While Leo is unlikable, it's entirely intentional given that he's so egotistical believing his book can easily cure people, stole the Diner couple's dream house, and he isn't even phased when he's told that Bob has committed suicide. This, in turn, makes his fall into insanity all the more satisfying.
 * 6) Despite how creepy it is for Bob to have been stalking his psychiatrist in the beginning, it is nice to see him get better as the film progresses.
 * 7) Good soundtrack that's cheery and fits the comedic tone of the film.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) While Leo maybe (intentionally) unlikable and the movie makes it out as such, he brings up a good point about Bob, intentionally or not, invading his privacy.
 * 2) *We're supposed to think that Dr. Leo Marvin telling his family to stay away from Bob is just Leo being a jerk, but think about all Bob did to reach him. Bob is a patient with multiple mental issues who repetitively lied and manipulated people to get to Leo, up to faking his own death and impersonating an officer of the law to get Leo's location (both of these things are illegal) all because Leo wasn't available to see him. This is a stalking level of obsession, and can be very scary.
 * 3) *Leo is also absolutely correct in stating that the lengths Bob goes to contact him is an amazing violation of the doctor-patient relationship.
 * 4) The film is rated PG despite there being moments where Bob yells profanities like "Dickhead" and "Bitch".
 * 5) The film uses a lot of cringe humor which can make it hard to watch especially the way Bob interacts with people in the beginning.

Reception
What About Bob? received positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a "Certified Fresh" 84% rating based on reviews from 43 critics with an average rating of 6.48/10. The site's consensus reads: "Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss' chemistry helps make the most of a familiar yet durable premise, elevating What About Bob? into the upper ranks of '90s comedies".

When the television program Siskel and Ebert reviewed the film, Roger Ebert gave the film a "thumbs up" rating praising the different performances of Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss onscreen together as well as most of the film's humor. He said it was Bill Murray's best movie since Ghostbusters in 1984. Gene Siskel gave it a "thumbs down" rating and felt Murray gave a very funny and enjoyable performance in the film, but was rather upset by the Dreyfuss character and his angry and arrogant behaviors. He felt it would have been funnier if Dreyfuss had not given such an angry performance in the film and said that Dreyfuss ultimately ruined the film for him.

Leonard Maltin also gave the film a favorable review: in Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide he gives the film three stars out of a possible four, saying it's "a very funny outing with Murray and Dreyfuss approaching the relationship of the road runner and the coyote". Maltin faulted the film only for its ending, which he found very abrupt and silly.

Lou Cedrone from The Baltimore Sun criticized the film: "It is too predictable and deals with a situation that is more irritating than amusing".

What About Bob? was a financial success. Made on a $39 million budget, it grossed $64 million domestically during its original theatrical run, Buena Vista's highest-grossing live action film of the year.

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