In his entrance scene, Dudley Moore shows himself to be structured, responsible, and no-nonsense. He gets to work early, asks his receptionist for any messages, and prepares his very tidy office for his first patient. As a therapist, he listens to people pouring out their unfixable, mostly small problems, and he never gets emotionally involved. He talks with a colleague, Wallace Shawn, who confesses that he's become obsessed with a young female patient. Wallace dies of a heart attack, and soon after, Dudley get a call from the aforementioned female patient asking for an appointment. The supposedly irresistible, enigmatic, vivacious, vibrant young woman is Elizabeth McGovern, who unfortunately plays her part very quietly. Since I couldn't see what was so tempting about her, I kept coming up with alternate plot twists that the story could have turned into: she was imaginary, she made a game of seducing all her therapists, it was all a dream so Dudley could warn Wallace before it was too late - but folks, just turn off your brains. It's just a little romantic comedy, nothing more. It is a bit quirky, but it's also pretty cute.
Alec Guinness has a very fun role as the spirit of Freud reincarnated in Dudley's imagination. Dudley can confess to his mentor analyst, John Huston, but the best advice comes from Freud, of course. Everyone seems to have a lot of fun making the movie (although Elizabeth seems determined to be as low-key about her enthusiasm as possible), including young, pre-discovered David Strathairn as a nutty homeless patient and Christine Baranski as a patient who constantly talks about sex. If you like your romances to have a little fantasy in them, or you'd like to see one of Dudley Moore's cuter movies, rent this forgotten '80s comedy.
Alec Guinness has a very fun role as the spirit of Freud reincarnated in Dudley's imagination. Dudley can confess to his mentor analyst, John Huston, but the best advice comes from Freud, of course. Everyone seems to have a lot of fun making the movie (although Elizabeth seems determined to be as low-key about her enthusiasm as possible), including young, pre-discovered David Strathairn as a nutty homeless patient and Christine Baranski as a patient who constantly talks about sex. If you like your romances to have a little fantasy in them, or you'd like to see one of Dudley Moore's cuter movies, rent this forgotten '80s comedy.