A film adaptation of a true-crime podcast about an incredible case of abusive relationship between a manipulative psychiatrist and a dumb patient - starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd.
Early 1980s. After the death of his parents, 40-year-old Marty Markowitz (Will Ferrell) was transferred to the textile business in New York, but, alas, he has neither the spirit nor the competence to run a family company: he is constantly stressed, and during a conversation with an assertive client he may even run away and hide in the back room in a panic attack. Protecting his younger sister Phyllis (Katherine Khan) insists that the brother go to a psychiatrist - for example, to the respected specialist in the Jewish community Ike Hershkopf (the sexiest man of the year Paul Rudd). He begins to give Marty advice on how to become more self-confident, and takes their relationship beyond the hours of sessions - in general, he does everything that a psychiatrist should not do. However, this is only the beginning: Dr. Ike is about to put his hand into Marty's bottomless pocket and lay eyes on his country house in the Hamptons.
After the synopsis, the most attentive reader should have a reasonable question about the name: what does the neighborhood have to do with it? The fact is that the mini-series is based on the sensational podcast of the same name by the former journalist Joe Noser, who began to investigate a strange situation that seemed to him: it turned out that his real neighbor in the Hamptons is not the Hershkopf who constantly lives in the house, but from time to time Markowitz, who mows his lawn. ... It was then that he began to investigate the connection between men, which violates any professional ethics, which lasted almost 30 years. Filmmakers could not pass by such a story, so the podcast adaptation is released on the growing Apple TV + streaming service, which, although it retains the name of the original source, omits the element of neighborhood. The creators, without unnecessary narrative twists, like the narrator behind the scenes, show the origin and evolution of the dysfunctional relationship between Ike Hershkopf and Marty Markowitz.
If earlier it was often written in reviews that the film was undercooked and so exaggerated that it should have been expanded to the format of a series, then in the era of fierce competition between streaming platforms, exactly the opposite situation is increasingly common: stories that were worth telling in one and a half to two hours, in order to attract viewers are expanded to six or eight. The Psychiatrist Next Door is a prime example of a show that would have done better in three times compressed timing. Even on paper, this story, though spread over three decades, is still not the most dynamic story, boils down to one process: Hershkopf repeatedly raises the bar of impudence in relations with Markowitz. This rehearsal quickly gets tired, so in the middle (and this is the fourth hour) the viewer will no longer be surprised at another attempt to cash in on the patient. Here, the story could have been saved by intrigue, which would have made one wonder how it would end (God forbid murder!), But the creators in the very first episode get rid of it, showing the ending of the story.
Half of the events could well fit into video cuts for some provocative hit of the era, but instead, the creators artificially stretch the action in an attempt to give the series a dramatic weight. Genre confusion is, perhaps, the main disadvantage of the project: no matter how cliché it may sound, the authors seem to be unable to decide what they are betting on. The synopsis and cast hint that Psychiatrist is a black comedy about parasitism and manipulation, but in fact it is often brought into a non-ironic and overly serious drama about addiction, abusive relationships and even class break. The viewer is literally forced to empathize with the simpleton Markowitz, who was actively ridiculed in the last scene, and then sympathize with Hershkopf - he grew up in a poor family of a Holocaust victim and is now staring at the stars, extorting money from patients for a better life. This attempt to sit on two chairs and shoot not dramedies, but leapfrog between tragedy and comedy, gives an indistinct result: "The Psychiatrist Next Door" looks surprisingly sterile - the series does not succeed in any genre, therefore it does not cause any shameful laughter or empathy to the heroes.
Considering the absolutely wild story from the original podcast, the stellar cast and the big names of the creators, including the screenwriter for The Heirs and the Vice President and the director of the comedy Love Is Disease, The Psychiatrist Next Door is a disappointment. which, given the current surplus of worthy projects, is not worth spending either time or resources on. On the other hand, when will we still be able to see Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell together - they are not just for the first time since the comedy "TV Host: Hello Again" united, but delightfully enjoy every second of the screen. Isn't there a good reason to waste six hours of your precious time?
This article was sponsored by William Alexander
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