Numb (2007)

A chronically depressed screenwriter desperately tries to cure his condition when he meets the girl of his dreams.

Director:

Harris Goldberg

Writer:

Harris Goldberg

Stars:

Matthew Perry, Lynn Collins, Kevin Pollak

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew Perry	...	Hudson Milbank
Lynn Collins	...	Sara Harrison
Kevin Pollak	...	Tom
Bob Gunton	...	Dr. Townshend
Helen Shaver	...	Audrey Milbank
William B. Davis	...	Peter Milbank
Mary Steenburgen	...	Dr. Blaine
Benjamin Ratner	...	Stan Milbank (as Ben Rattner)
Noah Dalton Danby	...	Tim (as Noah Danby)
Monique Ganderton	...	Debra
Mark Acheson	...	Homeless Guy
Patricia Harras	...	Dr. Simon
Brad Ganes	...	John
Ingrid Torrance	...	Female Psychologist
Brian George	...	Dr. Richmond

Storyline

Hudson Milbank is a successful Hollywood screenwriter who suddenly, strangely, finds himself without any emotional feelings. He tries doctor after doctor and shrink after shrink, but nothing works. The Golf Channel, lesbian exercise classes, and a dizzying variety of pills get him through the day but don't quite solve his problem. His writing partner tries everything to get him back to normal, but it's not until Hudson meets Sara that he finds a real motivation to get better and actually start feeling again. From the writer of Deuce Bigalow comes NUMB, a romantic comedy following an unusual man looking for strange love.

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Plot Keywords:

mental illness | depression | doctor patient relationship | nudity | female frontal nudity | 

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Taglines:

Love is better unmedicated.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some drug use and sexual content/nudity

Did You Know?

Goofs

When buying the new car, the salesman tells Hudson that there is "Four-point-two feet of cubic space back here." It implies that the trunk is only about a foot high, a foot deep, and four feet wide (1 foot x 1 foot x 4 feet = 4 cubic feet)... a ridiculously small amount of space for any trunk.

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Quotes

Hudson: You don't have to save me, Sara. But I am going to love you for the rest of my life, so things would be a lot better if you were around.

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Soundtracks

Smokey Bar Blues
Written by Marshall Sucj
Courtesy of Mikeful Music (ASCAP)

User Reviews

It actually happened to me... and, honestly, this is pretty accurate

I picked this up on a whim after having only seen a brief trailer for it on another movie. I am SO glad I did. As one of the other commentators pointed out, depersonalization disorder is a real problem for some people. Unlike Perry's character, I smoked weed everyday for a little over two years before it suddenly flipped a 180 on me and threw me into a panic/anxiety disorder coupled with what I was calling dissociation (not feeling right in your own skin, as they say in the movie, is spot-on). I felt "out of pocket" for over two years after my incident and never really went completely back to normal. I eventually managed to get over the chronic anxiety (after six months on Lexapro and about a year spent seeing a psychologist). Anyway, sorry to go on about myself, but it is just such a relief to see this on film! I'm even a writer as well (fiction not screenplays), but this is uncanny. My doctor also told me there was nothing physically wrong with me, just like in the film. I had an MRI and multiple other tests which all yielded nothing, like in the film. I had read some blog entries of people experiencing this, but my doctor had no idea what was wrong with me and my shrink had never really heard of it either. I felt just as alone and helpless as Perry's character does.

This movie did an amazing job of showing the effects of this little-known disorder. That whole part about looking at your hand or an object and not feeling like it's actually there, even though you can physically feel it -- completely true. I wanted to crawl out of my skin at times, and it is just so cathartic to see this film now, years after the fact. Perry is brilliant in this role and didn't even slip into Chandler-esquire tropes that have somewhat become his trademark (although, unfortunately, he will always be compared to that character). The dialog is actually quite good and the romanticism in this film isn't overbearing and contrived like so many other rom-comedies. In fact, I normally avoid rom-comedy for that very reason. Numb avoids the pitfalls and cuts right to the uncontrived truths. It doesn't rely on cuteness or sentimentality and the wittiness shines. Of course it's not perfection, but I couldn't have asked for more. Thank you Harris Goldberg. You did well.

Details

Official Sites:

Official soundtrack site

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 June 2008 (Romania)

Also Known As:

Numb

Filming Locations:

Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$3,300,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fries Film Group, Insight Film Studios, Paul Schiff Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1