Mumford
Mumford
R | 24 September 1999 (USA)
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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.

Reviews
ShangLuda

Admirable film.

Senteur

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

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Janae Milner

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

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Bob

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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metaphor-2

Mumford is not a great film, but it is a film full of great moments and delicious characters. I worked on the trailer for this film, and saw it all the way through at least five times, and saw the trailer editor's select-reel over twenty times. I saw many scenes hundreds of times, because the studio made us cut over 40 versions of the trailer, and then we made about a half-dozen TV spots. Unlike most movies that start to get very tired after a few viewings, Mumford just kept giving up more secrets and revealing more little gem-like moments every time I watched it.It's about a young psycho-therapist named Mumford who moves into a small Pacific Northwest town called Mumford. He begins to help a lot of people with their problems, and disrupts the nice, comfortable business of the town's two existing therapists. But Mumford has a secret, and the potential revelation of his secret drives the rather thin, low-key plot. The movie isn't really about the plot. The plot follows an unusual trajectory, timed very differently than other movies with a similar secret at their heart, and ultimately has trouble finding a satisfying ending. It isn't so much about Dr. Mumford himself, either, who is scripted very low-key and given a rather weak performance by Loren Dean (which is the film's other main problem). This combination of weaknesses makes Mumford different from a lot of formula films, and at the end, you feel a little unresolved. But on the other hand, it's hugely enjoyable all the way through. Why? Because it's really about the people Mumford meets and the transformations he inspires in them. Among the stand-outs are Zoe Deschanel, who steals the movie with her adorable debut performance as a disaffected teen forced to attend therapy after a drug bust; Jason Lee as an insecure skateboarding software billionaire; Hope Davis as a psychosomatically fatigued daughter of an overbearing mother; Ted Danson in a hilarious one-scene role as a rich schmuck; Mary MacDonnell in a kind of trance-state as his mail-order shopping-obsessed wife; the wonderful David Paymer as the town's leading psycho-therapist who affects red cowboy boots; Jane Adams as his rather mousy colleague and lover; and Pruitt Taylor Vince is delightful as a man with an exceptionally rich fantasy life. This movie confused the Disney marketing department, who desperately wanted to make it into a teen comedy. (It isn't.) It was ultimately dumped onto the market with only one TV spot which did not run much, because the studio had no faith in it. Nobody saw it, which is a real pity.In the trailer business, where you see and become intimately familiar with dozens of movies every year, I tended to divide movies into three categories: 1) Movies worth paying to see, 2) movies worth seeing for free, and 3) movies not worth watching under any circumstances because they're just an unrewarding theft of your time. Mumford falls into Category 1 for me.

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fsolowing

I had read/heard good things about this movie so many times I had no doubts that I would enjoy it.....unfortunately that is so far from the truth. Where to start.... 1. Loren Dean has got to be one of the most wooden, uninterested, bored actors I've ever seen. This was clearly just a paycheck or he has zero acting ability. His role ruined most of the ability to even watch this. While others around him SORTA tried he was so boring I wanted it to be over. 2.normally kind of good actors, i.e Jason lee, tanked in this movie too. It's not their fault the script sucked and wasn't believable but it's their fault they took the role.3. What exactly was the point of this movie? To make fun of bumpkins? To show we all have issues???? I could rant all day but I won't, just trust me and don't waste your time.

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jonnyss

this is a wonderful movie with some great lessons about what good psychotherapy can look like. (i am a psychiatrist, and i teach psychotherapy to psychology and psychiatry trainees).OK, he's learning on the job, so he makes a few mistakes here and there (e.g. confidentiality). but he is intuitive, kind, caring, present, and natural - in contrast with the psychiatrist and the other psychologist in town, both of whom are stylized in the all-too-common "therapist" way).if he worked in my town, i'd refer patients to him. if your therapist feels and sounds like the psychiatrist in the film, go find a mumford.oh, and the film is fun, entertaining, hopeful - yet not all fun and games; there's a bit of a dark side.

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doncasual

I've always caught this movie (on cable) in bits and pieces and never gave it too much thought or attention (I'm an action movie fan). The other day I hit it fairly close to the beginning and decided to stick with it - and pay attention (not that it requires a great deal of attention to figure out what's going on). What struck me throughout was the lack of any real "action" (it's very much a character-driven story) which forces you to focus on what is being said. And you can't help but come away with the realization that the dialogue is extremely honest and well written. When the end credits came up and said "written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan" I said to myself, "Well, now I know why." He's one of the best at dialogue. Kudos, Lawrence!

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