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MUMFORD (opens September 24) * * out of * * * * stars ========================
DIRECTED BY: Lawrence Kasdan STARRING: Loren Dean, Hope Davis, Jason Lee, Alfre Woodard, Mary McDonnell, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Zooey Deschanel, David Paymer, Martin Short, Ted Danson WRITTEN BY: Lawrence Kasdan RATED: R for sex-related images, language, nudity, and drug content SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Romans 15:1-2, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
You've got to hand it to Lawrence Kasdan . When he finds a niche he likes, he stays with it. Once again, the writer/director of THE BIG CHILL has taken a large talented cast and multiple story lines, woven them together and formed a mostly comedic, but sometimes touching movie.
MUMFORD takes its name from the small town that serves as its setting. Also from the last name of the central character, "Doc" Mumford. Though he has only arrived in Mumford four months, two and one-half weeks ago, he already has more patients than the town's other two headshrinkers.
Doc Mumford is a young psychologist with an unusual methodology... He makes it up as he goes along. He has to, seeing as he has never taken a course in psychology. But that doesn't stop him from "treating" the residents of Mumford, who respond by revealing their "secret lives" to him without knowing that he has one of his own.
Never having taken the Hippocratic oath, Mumford's amateur status is manifested in other ways: He has a tendency to talk about his patients and their problems to other townspeople, he refuses treatment when it suits his purposes, and he falls in love with one of his patients.
If having three psychologists (actually, one's a psychiatrist) in a small town seems excessive, it is only because you haven't met the good people of Mumford. They are an eclectic group in need.
Doc Mumford's patients include: Althea Brockett (Mary McDonnell, INDEPENDENCE DAY), a compulsive shopper who takes that condition to a new high; Henry Follett (Pruitt Taylor Vince, COLD AROUND THE HEART), whose 1940's style sexual fantasies somehow don't include a role for him; Skip Skiperton (Jason Lee, DOGMA), a goof-ball, skateboarding, multi-billionaire who has learned that it is lonely at the top; Nessa Watkins (Zooey Deschanel in her film debut) a teenager unhappy with her looks and life but way too cool to admit it; and Sofie Crisp (Hope Davis, ARLINGTON ROAD), suffering from the symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and in whom Doc Mumford takes a special interest.
While the movie's structure prevents them from becoming a truly ensemble cast, each of the actors do fine, credible work in their respective scenes. Loren Dean (ENEMY OF THE STATE) appropriately underplays the role of Doc Mumford, allowing our focus to remain on the various supporting characters and the effect the "doctor" has upon them. Alfre Woodard (DOWN IN THE DELTA) has some good moments as Lily, Doc's friend and sounding board and perhaps the only resident of Mumford not in need of his help.
While MUMFORD is, at its core, a sweet, charitable film, for some miscalculated reason Mr. Kasdan included enough sexual images and nudity to bump the MPAA rating to a well deserved R. This inclusion distracts from and weakens the film instead of adding to it. MUMFORD is a "PG" movie dressed in "R" clothing that satisfies neither audience.
The miraculous treatment that the "doctor" has stumbled upon is nothing new. It is called "listening and caring." The people who came to Doc Mumford needed someone with whom to share their innermost thoughts and Doc, via his non-clinical, nonprofessional responses, communicated to them that he genuinely cared for them. Thus they began their first steps on the road to healing.
God has called us to do the same for each other:
"Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do." 1 Thessalonians 5:11 [KJV]
There is no godly reason for anyone to ever feel alone in this world. If nothing else, we can pour our hearts out to God Who always hears us. And as we include God in our lives, we are welcomed into and become part of a larger community comprised of a family of believers and a household of faith.
Michael Elliott http://www.christiancritic.com
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