40
Metascore
21 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 63USA TodayClaudia PuigUSA TodayClaudia PuigGrief and suicide seem unlikely subjects for a comedy. But Shrink tries gamely to mine edgy humor from the darkest places. Sometimes it works. Other times, its Hollywood-centric focus feels like a re-heated cinemash of "The Wackness," "Crash" and "The Player."
- 60VarietyVarietyThe film may be too inside-baseball, with strained sympathy and contrived emotions.
- 60SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirShrink offers a roster of wonderfully eccentric characterizations, shoehorned into a dramatic structure that's just a little too formulaic.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttYou do wish Pate and writer Thomas Moffett had gone for more wit given the outlandishness of the melodrama since it would be more fun to laugh at this than take it seriously.
- 50The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenThese characters are mostly too sketchy and their connections too contrived for Shrink to jell as an incisive ensemble piece.
- 50New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickStarts promisingly, but Jonas Pate directs his fine cast straight into a swamp of schmaltz as every loose thread of plot gets patly resolved.
- 42Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIt wants to be "Good Will Hunting" set in the land of "Entourage," but its bummed-out touchy-feeliness is every bit as concocted as its overly jaded showbiz corruption.
- 42The A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe A.V. ClubNathan RabinShrink is exactly like virtually all his (Spacey) post-"American Beauty" vehicles: flashy, phony, nakedly melodramatic, and full of big actorly moments disconnected from real life.
- 40Village VoiceVillage VoicePate's eye isn't bad, but Thomas Moffett's screenplay is self-serious piffle.
- Ironically for a film revolving around psychotherapy, Shrink doesn't stand up to analysis.