Album Review

Shrink –

• 5th Aug 2010

Kevin Spacey is back to his Jack Lemmon aspirations with this melodrama of a Hollywood Psychiatrist who has even bigger emotional problems of his own (Don’t they always in Hollywood!). That cliché aside what we get is a very well shot, if blurry sombre character piece of a small group of individuals and how their lives cross over with one another.

There are some direct nods and influences taken from the likes of Altman in this film. And whilst the film does have the odd celeb name in there – it is far more interested in concentrating on characters and their internal problems.

The film ultimately makes comment on the effects of mankind on itself as people have their perceptions of the world around them and then dismiss or acknowledge others whilst dealing with their own problems. So the journey is one that is sewn tightly between the characters (and in the real world it may be stretching it a bit thin to have all these people come into contact with each other in the ways they do. But that is not to say that these groups of people wouldn’t have the issues that they do.

It’s good to see Spacey play his more earthly bound characters who live in the real world. It’s what he does best and here is no exception. The only problem with Shrink is that it seems to have come out of nowhere like an HBO special behaving like a film that is actually a pilot for a TV show. But with that in mind the film does tie up most of its threads along the way.

The supporting cast mostly do very well – but sadly some characters are left for too long at the sidelines like Saffron Burrows aging actress and Jack Huston’s “Colin Farrellesque” actor. But if you want some nice sedate drama for your evening then Shrink is perfectly acceptable drama.