On the Couch

List creator: sethbecky Created on: October 10, 2007 - 9:06 PM PDT Description: Great(?) movies about psychologists, psychiatrists, and/or psychos.

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	movie title	related list	average rating	MPAA rating	watch	rent	buy
	The President's Analyst (1967)			Not Rated
Fabulous James Coburn vehicle. Best moment: He's escaping from a cell and sees two things he can take: a gun and his tweed jacket (patches on the elbows, of course). It's as clear a moment of a man choosing his weapon as Bruce Willis in the pawn shop in Pulp Fiction. Naturally, he chooses psychology, the deadlier weapon.
	Ordinary People (1980)
One teenage boy's therapy leads to shifts in the family's habits and patterns. Sad, uplifting, and powerful.
	The Treatment (2006)
The self-proclaimed "last true Freudian" refuses to be fired and follows his patient into the real world, hiding in the bathroom at parties to offer advice and generally making a pest of himself. Only, it's funny and interesting.
	The Snake Pit (1948)
Olivia DeHavilland doesn't know why she's in a mental institution; recovering her story is necessary--but not sufficient--for her release.
	The Bob Newhart Show: Season 1 (Disc 1 of 3) (1972)			Not Rated
For years, Bob was the nation's therapist. Something I think he's still mine :-)
	He Was a Quiet Man (2006)			Not Rated
No therapist or psychiatrist here... you'll just want one to come in and save Christian Sleator from the deteriation he knows he's experiencing
	Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)
The big question is: Did the protagonist kill himself, or was it an accident? The setting is the afterlife. Tom Waits may or may not be the judge.
	Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Some of this movie may take place in a delusion. Or an hallucination. Or a dream. Or, it may not. But really, it probably does.
	Hard Candy (2005)
A 14 year old girl and a 35 year old man walk into a room. At least one is insane and refuses to believe it. Whether the other is insane is unclear for a long time. And which is insane enough to walk back out of the room is the plot.
	As Good as It Gets (1997)
Nice to see OCD played for something other than laughs. And the movie's knockout line, given after Nicholson returns to his psychiatrist for the treatment he'd refused for years, expresses what lies deepest in the heart of every mentally ill person
	Observe and Report (2009)
Here bipolar gets the "not quite for laughs" treatment, in this case by playing it for laughs until it can't be funny anymore. Which seems appropriate for bipolar, I guess. The best part: it won't shatter any myths about bipolar. This is good because it's a dramedy with a beeper in it, not an "issue movie"
	The Magus (1968)
Hard to describe. Conches isn't exactly a therapist, and he clearly has his own goals and motives, but he creates an experience that can only be called therapeutic
	Running with Scissors (2006)
I have friends who are children of psychologists or psychiatrists. This is far, far crazier.
	Analyze This (1999)
(Haven't seen it, but it seems to belong)
	Analyze That (2002)
(Haven't seen it, but it seems to belong)
	The Big Bang Theory: The Complete First Season (2007)			Not Rated
Some episodes feature Leonard's mother, a nicely-done parody of the clinical, detached psychologist (and neuroloscientist). She's played for laughs but also taken seriously for her insightful observations.
	Dr. Katz - Professional Therapist: Season 1 (1995)