Shrink
Roadside Attractions | Release Date: July 24, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
40
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
15
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Grief 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." Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Kevin Spacey brings another of his cynical, bitter characters to life -- very smart, and fresh out of hope -- but the movie doesn't give him much of anywhere to take it. Read full review
60
VarietyJohn Anderson
The film may be too inside-baseball, with strained sympathy and contrived emotions. Read full review
60
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Shrink offers a roster of wonderfully eccentric characterizations, shoehorned into a dramatic structure that's just a little too formulaic. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
You 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. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen Holden
These characters are mostly too sketchy and their connections too contrived for Shrink to jell as an incisive ensemble piece. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
Starts promisingly, but Jonas Pate directs his fine cast straight into a swamp of schmaltz as every loose thread of plot gets patly resolved. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The script of Shrink, written by Thomas Moffett, plays like "Crash" without the angst or the perpetual racial conflagrations. Read full review
50
Washington PostPhilip Kennicott
Shrink is no worse than the average Hollywood comedy. But it shows, more obviously than most, the bankruptcy of standard-issue American pop narrative, circa 2009. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Michael Posner
No one knows why bad things happen to good people. But we do know why bad things happen to good film ideas. They get ruined by poor scripts and indifferent direction. The evidence desemaine– Shrink. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
The plot relies heavily on pat betrayal, forced coincidences - and the sort of closure that lands, with a thud, in a tidy package of cliches. Yet some of the humor is delicious. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
It 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. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Shrink 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. Read full review
40
Village VoiceVadim Rizov
Pate's eye isn't bad, but Thomas Moffett's screenplay is self-serious piffle. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesGary Goldstein
Ironically for a film revolving around psychotherapy, Shrink doesn't stand up to analysis. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Spacey is the film's primary draw, but the cast is uniformly solid -- a crucial asset when the screenplay and direction are not. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
A well-chosen cast props up this otherwise shallow story. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
A pity-party of Hollywood narcissism. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The more Shrink tries to get you invested in the emotional turmoil of its characters, the more you want to reach into the screen and shake them and tell them to get over themselves. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
This movie brings to mind much better cable TV shows like the marijuana comedy "Weeds,’" the one-on-one psychodramas of "In Treatment," and the astonishingly cinematic "Breaking Bad." Read full review
20
Chicago ReaderCliff Doerksen
Director Jonas Pate should be run through a wood chipper for daring to quote "Fargo." Read full review
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