Mumford: Not That Great A Place To Visit

Before I went to see Mumford, I decided to read a little synopsis of the movie. This was a bad idea. The only part of the movie that I might not have been able to predict was taken away from me by this synopsis.

Don't get me wrong it wasn't like giving away the ending to The Usual Suspects. I still already knew half of the movie before I entered the theatre. Consequently, to give you, the reader, a plot summary without ruining the movie is my goal.

Dr. Mumford, played by Loren Dean (Billy Bathgate) is a popular psychologist in the small town of Mumford. His methods are unconventional, as are his patients. Even with his unconventional methods he is loved in the small town and has a wonderful relationship with his downstairs neighbor. Everything is going smoothly in his life.

It is not until Mr. Crisp asks Dr. Mumford to examine his daughter Sophie, played by Hope Davis (Arlington Road), who is suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, that Dr. Mumford's life seems to have a little spice added to it. Also, the addition of lonely billionaire Skip Skipperton, played by Jason Lee (Mallrats), as a patient and friend, allows the viewer to find out that the good doctor has a secret.

The movie is truly about the relationship that forms between the doctor and Sophie and some of the relationships that come from the friendships that Dr. Mumford makes through his practice. He becomes a kind of matchmaker.

As I said earlier, the movie is very predictable, but that is not really the movie's biggest problem.

The biggest problem I had with the movie was that it did not focus enough on the subplots. The movie does have its moments and most of these moments occur during the subplots. The subplots deal primarily with the relationships Dr. Mumford helps to form.

Since Lawrence Kasdan (writer and director of The Big Chill), who wrote and directed Mumford, decided to have his main character, Dr. Mumford, in 95% of the film, Kasdan is unable to expand on the subplots, since the subplots do not deal with Dr. Mumford.

The direction of the movie is nothing special. The writing lacks originality. The relationships aren't even developed enough to be original and I had such a lack of satisfaction at the end of the movie that I feel that there was no important story in this movie. What they do have in the movie is actually decent, but they don't have enough. It feels like a bunch of short stories were thrown together instead of a cohesive two hour long movie.

I was truly disappointed by this movie, because of the talent that it failed to utilize. The cast also includes Alfre Woodard, Mary McDonnell, Ted Danson, and Martin Short. This is an incredible cast which gives good performances with the material they were give;. I just didn't like the material they were given.

The movie is supposedly a comedy. However, I laughed maybe two or three times during the movie, so I can't truly believe that this movie is first and foremost a comedy. The romantic relationships aren't very romantic and there definitely isn't any drama in this movie. This movie does not truly fit into a genre. It would need a full story in order to be categorized.

I do not advise renting this movie. There are too many good old movies around to waste a trip to your rental place on Mumford. Go rent The Big Chill or Silverado or even Grand Canyon. These are three movies directed by Kasdan that are beautifully done with great character development. I'm sorry to say that this movie just isn't worth seeing unless it's free.