A successful psychotherapist loses his mind after one of his most dependent patients, an obsessive-compulsive neurotic, tracks him down during his family vacation.
Doctor Leo Marvin, an egotistical psychotherapist in New York City, is looking forward to his forthcoming appearance on a "Good Morning America" telecast, during which he plans to brag about "Baby Steps," his new book about emotional disorder theories in which he details his philosophy of treating patients and their phobias. Meanwhile, Bob Wiley is a recluse who is so afraid to leave his own apartment that he has to talk himself out the door. When Bob is pawned off on Leo by a psychotherapist colleague, Bob becomes attached to Leo. Leo finds Bob extremely annoying. When Leo accompanies his wife Fay, his daughter Anna, and his son Siggy to a peaceful New Hampshire lakeside cottage for a month-long vacation, Leo thinks he's been freed from Bob. Leo expects to mesmerize his family with his prowess as a brilliant husband and remarkable father who knows all there is to know about instructing his wife and raising his kids. But Bob isn't going to let Leo enjoy a quiet summer by the lake. By ...Written by
Todd Baldridge
Richard Dreyfuss said Bill Murray 'was an Irish drunken bully' after an ashtray-throwing incident when they were filming What About Bob. In a wide-ranging interview with Yahoo!, Richard Dreyfuss, recounts animosity with Murray during What About Bob. Of Murray, who played a patient who harasses his therapist (Dreyfuss) during his family vacation, Dreyfuss says: "I didn't talk about it for years. ... Bill just got drunk at dinner. He was an Irish drunken bully, is what he was. ... He came back from dinner (one night) and I said, 'Read this (script tweak), I think it's really funny.' And he put his face next to me, nose-to-nose. And he screamed at the top of his lungs, 'Everyone hates you! You are tolerated!" Murray then "leaned back and he took a modern glass-blown ashtray. He threw it at my face from (only a couple feet away)," says Dreyfuss, who won an Oscar for 1977's "The Goodbye Girl." "And it weighed about three quarters of a pound. And he missed me. He tried to hit me. I got up and left." See more »
Goofs
When Anna picks Bob up on the road and they discuss their issues, Bob never puts on his seat belt, which is inconsistent with the paranoid nature of his character. It's true he doesn't use his handkerchief on the door handle after asking Anna who uses the car, but seat belts are a different matter altogether. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Bob Wiley:
I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful... I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful... I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful...
See more »
Alternate Versions
The television version has replaced footage of several scenes wherein Bob and Siggy exchange insults while faking Tourette's Syndrome. In the replaced footage, they are faking "Buddy's Disease," and the insults are significantly toned down. The television version also removed all direct references to "Good Morning America" in dialogue, referring to it as a "television crew," despite retaining the "Good Morning America" insignia on the vehicles and the show's theme. See more »
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie the first time I saw it, laughing most of the way. By the second look, Bill Murray's deliberately obnoxious-pushy character now started driving me crazy, too. No longer was it just Richard Dreyfuss being tormented. By the third viewing, I'd had enough.
Murray, "Bob," is so annoying, so irritating, that you either laugh or want to kill this guy yourself as he hounds his psychiatrist all over the place. Kudos to Dreyfuss to put up with, even if it's just acting. Murray certainly did his job well in this film. He was the perfect actor to play "Bob."
Highly recommended for one but beware "Bob" may drive you nuts, too.
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I thoroughly enjoyed this movie the first time I saw it, laughing most of the way. By the second look, Bill Murray's deliberately obnoxious-pushy character now started driving me crazy, too. No longer was it just Richard Dreyfuss being tormented. By the third viewing, I'd had enough.
Murray, "Bob," is so annoying, so irritating, that you either laugh or want to kill this guy yourself as he hounds his psychiatrist all over the place. Kudos to Dreyfuss to put up with, even if it's just acting. Murray certainly did his job well in this film. He was the perfect actor to play "Bob."
Highly recommended for one but beware "Bob" may drive you nuts, too.