Synopsis
As a relative newcomer to an Oregon town that bears his name, Dr. Mumford seems charming and skillful to his neighbors and patients. His unique, frank approach to psychotherapy soon attracts patients away from the two therapists already working in the area. Soon he is treating a variety of conditions, ranging from the obsession of one man with erotic novels to an unhappily married woman and her compulsive shopping. Mumford befriends a billionaire computer mogul and a cafe waitress and attempts to play matchmaker. He also begins to fall for a patient who suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome. Together with an attorney (Martin Short) whom Mumford had rejected as a patient because of his narcissism, the rival therapists conspire to find skeletons in Mumford's closet, hoping to destroy his reputation. Meanwhile, Mumford's inherent likability causes his life to become intertwined with much of the rest of the town.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Loren DeanMumford
- Hope DavisSofie Crisp
- Jason LeeSkip Skipperton
- Alfre WoodardLily
- Zooey DeschanelNessa Watkins
- Mary McDonnellAlthea Brockett
- Pruitt Taylor VinceHenry Follett
- Martin ShortLionel Dillard
- David PaymerDr. Ernest Delbanco
- Jane AdamsDr. Phyllis Sheeler
Recommendations
- 100
San Francisco Chronicle
So wonderfully odd, even spiritual, that audiences won't be able to do anything but smile. - 100
New York Daily News
Among the funniest and most satisfying films I've seen in years. - 91
Entertainment Weekly
Turns the tricks of psychology into duplicitous high play. - 75
Boston Globe
The performances are disarming and Mumford is the kind of comedy that grows on you if you give it a chance. - 75
Christian Science Monitor
This good-natured comedy serves up plenty of laughs while suggesting that the best experts in human psychology are plain old humans. - 70
Washington Post
A sort of thinking-person's cornball movie. - 60
Film.com
Goes out of its way to suppress most natural dramatic conflict, so it's left to the actors to carry the day. - 60
Film.com
All fleeting charm where it could have been one of the most memorable films of the decade.
