Weekend Movie Forecast: In the Loop Vs. Shrink

Kevin Spacey plays an LA therapist with issues of his own in Jonas Pate's new movie Shrink, which reminds Stephen Whitty at the Star-Ledger of "a recurring nightmare in which I finally decide to get professional help for my myriad emotional issues, and go to see a therapist. When I get there, he's Kevin Spacey. Oh wait, that's not a nightmare. That's the movie I just saw...Seriously, though—Kevin Spacey, Therapist. It could be a good idea for a Saturday Night Live sketch. People show up for their sessions and get 50 minutes of smug superiority and Mametian invective.

"Unfortunately, Shrink is not a comedy. Not on purpose, anyway. Instead, it's one of those endless knock-offs of the much better Magnolia (itself inspired by the far, far better Short Cuts), in which an ensemble of L.A. characters don't quite connect until, in the end, they sort of do... Shrink is a mess too, full of fake moments and Deep Thoughts sentiment. It's the kind of film in which people stare regretfully into mirrors a lot. Well, I have a lot of regrets too, including this movie, but tops today is the fact that Spacey still feels the need to crash the Hollywood pity party."