Frank Oz’s 1991 film ‘What About Bob?’ has always held fond memories as one of the funniest early 90s Hollywood mainstream comedies, with co-stars Richard Dreyfuss & Bill Murray working especially well together. It had been decades since I’d last watched it and was curious to see how well it held up.
Murray plays Bob Wiley, whose life is inhibited by endless fears and phobias – just leaving his apartment is a stressful experience. After an endless series of therapists, he has a brief session with psychiatrist Leo Marvin (Dreyfuss) who (clearly working on autopilot) gives him advice and his new book which Wiley treats as life-changing. Marvin states he’ll be away on a family holiday for weeks but he is about to find out that it’s impossible to ever get a holiday from Wiley.
As a comedy, ‘What About Bob?’ exists in three segments. The opening segment where Marvin slowly begins to comprehend Wiley’s relentlessly needy personality is enjoyable but only mildly funny because Marvin still has his full professional in-control demeanour so Wiley’s obsessive behavior has little to play off.
It’s the film’s middle section where Marvin’s public persona cracks and shatters that the film kicks into gear and becomes constantly hilarious. It is constantly amusing how Wiley manages to connect with Marvin’s daughter and son (Kathryn Erbe & Charlie Korsmo) better than Marvin ever has. This isn’t surprising when Marvin’s parenting techniques involve making his daughter having conversations with her in public using hand puppets!
It’s also funny seeing that the more Marvin attempts to illustrate that Wiley is a disturbed individual, the more his family and even his peers see Wiley as an eccentric but likable and charming guy. For example, Marvin’s seemingly foolproof plan to have Wiley committed to a mental institution blows up in his face when Wiley has the entire staff eating out of the palm of his hand with a virtual stand-up comedy routine.
As amusing as these parts of the middle segment are, the film’s high point is the interview Marvin gives on a national morning TV show to promote his book ‘Baby Steps’. Somehow Wiley gets roped into the interview and it is a disaster; but because of Marvin who turns into a gibbering wreck while it’s Wiley who is relaxed and composed. This sense of irony where the psychiatrist/patient dynamic completely switches in the public gaze plus the manifestation of Marvin’s building frustrations bubbling over help make what is a funny scene work so well.
Also what makes this scene and the entire film are the two central performances. In what was back then an atypical role away from his cynical, wise-cracking persona that brought him such success in the 1980s, Murray is terrific as being endearing and infuriating in equal measure. But as fine as Murray is, Dreyfuss’ performance is even better. His familiar persona of brashness (bordering on smarminess) mixed with manic energy is put to perfect use in a marvelous comedy performance.
Probably the most difficult feat for ‘What About Bob?’ has is balancing the audience’s sympathies between Wiley & Monroe and it does this very well. We see that while Wiley doesn’t have a nasty bone in his body he has no concept of the wishes and personal space of others and can understand how he infuriates Marvin. But we also see that Marvin is pompous, self-absorbed and hopeless with his children; his arrogance means his downfall is funny to watch instead of potentially being cringeworthy.
As good as the ‘What About Bob?’ is, its closing segment is a bit of a letdown. The balance it had maintained of being an exaggerated battle between the two main characters that was still based in reality is lost and it turns into an absurd, over-the-top extravaganza. Marvin turns from a demoralized therapist into a cartoon villain that feels like the live-action version of Wile E Coyote. That the film ends on a major explosion and destruction is misguided in the context of what has occurred before.
Still, despite its disappointing closing 15 minutes, ‘What About Bob?’ holds up very well as one of the best mainstream American comedies of the early 1990s.
Gone Elsewhere 