Shrink

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Mark Webber, Keke Palmer

Directed by: Jonas Pate

Rating: Liked It

This is a weird kind of feel good movie.  It’s weird in the fact that it deals a lot with drug abuse, suicide and the Hollywood lifestyle.  At the end, you find that through a movie where you didn’t feel emotionally connected, you wind up really caring about the characters. 

Spacey plays Henry Carter, shrink to the stars.  He is having a rough go of things and has developed a mental addition to marijuana.  After an attempted intervention by his friends and family fails, his father sends him a special patient: Jemma (Palmer).  Through twists and turns we see a collage of characters connected together by events in their lives. 

This movie has moments that are really touching, but it’s not all mushy.  A small role played by Robin Williams keeps things light as usual.  The film really grabs you by the collar and drags you into the lives of its characters. 

Spacey does a terrific job as usual, but he does so in a role like I’ve never seen him play before.  Palmer is great as the lost teenager looking for her path in life.  Webber hits dead on as the struggling, likable writer.  The supporting cast was perfect.  My favorite character is possibly the big Hollywood agent with OCD issues played by Dallas Roberts.  Henry’s conversations and dealings with his pot dealer named Jesus – a very minor role played by Jesse Plemons – is a really fun point of the film as well. 

The story weaves together the different stories of its characters very subtly.  I was wondering from the beginning how they would all be connected.  It was obvious from the beginning that they would eventually cross paths, but I wasn’t sure how that would happen. 

This is one of those movies that’s kind of hard to talk about without giving away too much.  I would definitely recommend it for anyone who likes a good drama. It’s available on your Netflix Instant Play.