Ferrell, Rudd lead ‘Shrink Next Door’
Apple TV+ streams the dark comedy miniseries “The Shrink Next Door.” Like Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” it is a podcast-based story set in a very particular corner of New York City.
While “Only Murders,” starring Martin Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez, was a parody of podcast creators and the genre’s story structure, “Shrink” is based on a popular podcast by Bloomberg’s Joe Nocera.
A tale that takes decades to unfold, “Shrink” stars Will Ferrell as Marty Markowitz, the neurotic and easily cowed head of a garment center business inherited from his much-more-capable parents. As the story begins in the early 1980s, a slight altercation with a customer sends Marty into a panic attack. His feisty but supportive sister Phyllis (Kathryn Hahn) suggests he consult a therapist, Dr. Isaac Herschkopf (Paul Rudd).
As brash and glib as Marty is helpless, “Ike” helps his patient assert himself. At first, he seems to want nothing so much as for Marty to “man up,” and suggests, in the second episode, that he stage a second bar mitzvah to announce that very fact.
It’s not giving too much away to reveal that Ike’s motivations are not entirely kind and that his real goal is to take over Marty’s life and considerable fortune. Not unlike a cartoon wolf who fantasizes an innocent chicken as a fully cooked meal, Ike sees Markowitz as an easy mark.
Ferrell is an old hand at playing the slowly awakening innocent, but here he does it while affecting well-worn ethnic stereotypes. Rudd is masterfully sleazy. From his polyester shirts tucked into his high-waisted trousers to his tightly groomed beard, he oozes the confidence man’s false familiarity. But in many ways Phyllis, Hahn’s abrasive sister hen, is the most powerful character. Much like Jean Smart, Hahn seems to steal every show she’s in.
A story made for audio, “Shrink” sometimes resembles a stage play, with shots tightly focused on its two main characters against a blurry
backdrop that successfully evokes a bygone Manhattan, a shabbier, yet more lived-in world of kosher dairy delicatessens, photography shops and unglamorous diners.
A dark comedy of mind games and predatory behavior, “Shrink” may appeal to fans of the original “Producers,” starring Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel, or “The In-Laws” with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin. At the same time, its near-constant reliance on abrasive, neurotic and manipulative behavior may leave some viewers uncomfortable, but that’s a subject that may transcend a mere TV column.
› Disney+ streams the documentary “Under the Helmet: The Legacy of Boba Fett,” an extensive character study of the “Star Wars” bounty hunter.
In another Disney+ franchise expansion, Josh Gad returns to voice his snowman character in the animated special “Olaf Presents.”