TV review: The Shrink Next Door
THE SHRINK NEXT DOOR (M18)
Rating: 1 TICK
This is a staggeringly huge misfire.
A usually superlative-garnering cast of Paul Rudd, Will Ferrell and Kathryn Hahn in a true story-based tale told in the eponymous podcast.
That should be utterly compelling, yet this currently showing Apple TV+ series falls flat.
Previews pitched it as a quirky dramedy, playing on the crew's comedic credentials. In reality, The Shrink Next Door is slow, bleak and joyless.
So bleak that anyone not feeling great about themselves should give this a wide berth. Not that there's much for anyone else.
A middle-aged man (Ferrell) in early 80s New York, breaking under the stress of running his inherited fabric business, visits a psychiatrist (Rudd) who starts a three decades-long manipulation that removes him from his family and eventually reduces him to little more than a servant in his own home.
The problem with this over-protracted drama is that the premise is set out so early, yet doesn't explore why this extraordinary scam happened.
Rudd's charming sociopath preys on Ferrell's good-natured patsy from the off, leaving you stuck for eight poorly-paced episodes watching a fragile, broken man become increasingly shattered. - JONATHAN ROBERTS
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