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Paul Rudd may be People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive,” but that too coincidental accolade (ya think?) bestowed just days before “The Shrink Next Door” won’t help the cause of his new Apple TV+ series.
Both Rudd and the eight-episode series, premiering Friday (Nov. 12), are just too disturbing — and not in an entertaining way.
Rudd plays a narcissistic, manipulative psychologist who preys on a nice-guy patient (Will Ferrell), worming his way into, and eventually taking over, all aspects of his life. It’s based on the true story of Dr. Isaac Herschkopf (Rudd) and his patient, Marty Markowitz (Ferrell), which inspired the titular 2019 Bloomberg/Wondery podcast. It also reminds me a lot of psychologist Eugene Landy, who controlled troubled musician Brian Wilson’s life in the ’80s and ’90s so extremely that he had to be legally forced out from the Beach Boy founder’s orbit.
I can’t find much to recommend “The Shrink Next Door”; from the get-go, it veers into annoying “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” territory with its cartoonish, borderline-insulting depiction of Jewish characters and miscasts Ferrell who’s not, for one minute, believable as a New York City native (complete with the typical showbiz New Yawk accent).
He plays the man-child Marty, who’s turning 40 (it’s 1982) but is still treated like a child while (benignly) running his late father’s Manhattan fabric company. He’s a nice guy with lots of money in the bank and a trust fund he shares with his loving-yet-domineering younger sister, Phyllis (Kathryn Hahn, also with the bad accent). She’s got three kids, is going through a messy divorce and considers Marty her “fourth child.” ‘Nuf said.
Phyllis recommends that Marty pay a visit to Manhattan therapist Dr. Herschkopf to help with his low self-esteem, panic attacks and aversion to confrontation. The self-glorifying good/bad doctor immediately senses Marty’s vulnerability and suggestible personality and you know it’s headed down a bad road; after their first session, Herschkopf invites Marty to lunch — unethical, anyone? — and, thereafter, continues to prey on Marty’s good nature and inability to say no. Before long, he’s convinced Marty to get tough at the office (with mixed results) and to have a second Bar Mitzvah as a way to celebrate his 40th birthday — at Herschkopf’s (not Marty’s) synagogue, exercising his emotional control and keeping Phyllis at bay. (The Bar Mitzvah scenes are cringeworthy in so many ways. Don’t ask.) It’s just creepy all around.
In an “uh-oh” moment, Marty starts calling Herschkopf “Dr. Ike” and, before long, Phyllis catches on to his game. “It’s not normal … there needs to be boundaries,” she tells Herschkopf. “I have good instincts … I will be watching you.” But such is his grip over Marty that he alienates him from his sister, who needs to dip into their trust fund to hire a high-powered divorce attorney (Marty is the executor). It doesn’t end well.
And on and on … “Dr. Ike” ingratiates himself by throwing some high-profile Broadway business Marty’s way (through a client) … Marty invites Dr. Ike to visit his factory, under a pseudonym as an “industrial psychologist” … Dr. Ike tells Marty that he’s got an alter-ego, Marshall Feldhammer, who acts as his lawyer … Dr. Ike’s eyes widen as he learns the extent of Marty’s wealth (including a Hamptons beach house that comes into play) … Marty asks Dr. Ike to join his company — on a full-time basis. “I’m going to look after you,” Ike tells Marty, “and take care of everything.”
Yikes.
There’s no enjoyment in watching a grown man being manipulated by a sociopath — even if it’s based on a true story — and that’s what you’ll see in “The Shrink Next Door.” I kept waiting for the “aha” moment, but it never arrived; it’s not that Rudd isn’t convincing as Dr. Ike — he is — but therein lies the rub: who wants to sit through eight uncomfortable episodes watching this guy steal Marty’s life in a mind-f–k type of way?
Not this guy.
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