“Dr. Marvin, I’M SAILING! I’M SAILING!”

Justin’s rating: Proof that hair loss is your friend in comedy

Justin’s review: What About Bob? started a long-lasting feud among our family that began the day we went to the movie theater to see it when I was a teen. Upon leaving, a theater attendant was witness to these words:

ME: [cackling like a hyena] Hahaha… “Death Therapy”! How awesome is that?

MOM: That was just awful.

DAD: [agreeing just to buy time while he thought of where he parked] Yeah, it was.

ME: [heart breaking while the color red seeped into my vision] What?! WHAT DID YOU SAY?

Yes, so, in our family, a line was quickly drawn between those of us who appreciated the sly and intelligent comedy of a Mr. Bill Murray, and those of us without a morsel of humor in our black, shriveled souls. It’s an issue that’s driven us apart, time and again, whenever someone quotes this “awful” movie and we revive the long-limp argument as to whether this was a good movie or not.

I love my parents. But What About Bob? is a great movie, and I’m really glad the courts will never make me choose between the two.

The simple story of a clutching, needy, phobia-phobic loon who latches onto a psychiatrist and his family is one that resonates time and again in our culture. We are a society that needs to take “baby steps” toward solving our problems. We are the men and women who need to let go and learn to “sail” with our hearts. We are insecure to the point of needing to spend a night in a room filled with kids happily swearing the entire range of child grossness. This is the film that not only defined, but healed a generation.

Also, it’s flippin’ funny. Bill Murray is a dead lock when it comes to playing smart and highly sarcastic characters (Quick Change and Groundhog Day also came out around this period). Yet when he steps into a role that’s almost the polar opposite — a sweet, innocent, mentally unstable man-child — he’s equally at home. I really wonder what kind of childhood this guy had, anyway.

It’s not really funny to make mean-spirited jabs at people with mental problems, I realize. But then again, most of us have some form of mental issues, so why not blow off some steam in movie form? What About Bob? doesn’t deal with any massive psychological issues, other than just a character generally being a bit nuts and off-center, which makes it a neutral playground where our neurosis can come out to have a bit of recess. Maybe play a bit of tetherball, or four-square.

Bob’s our poster boy for all of us who wear our problems in fish form around our necks, and we can’t help but admire what a spectacular job he does at overcoming his disabilities while retaining the yes-nonsense personality infecting his body.

Like most of Murray’s classic comedies, this is an easy watch that sucks you in with charm and laughs while dooming you to an eternal existence on the couch watching the same station while you hope against hope that the channel will soon replay this masterpiece and alleviate the suffering heaped upon your psyche.