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Kevin Spacey's at it again: smoking pot while in the midst of a personal crisis. Remember Lester in American Beauty? His latest character, Dr. Henry Carter in Shrink, does the same, but in this movie, he's "addicted" to marijuana and requires an intervention.

As Shrink begins, Henry has just lost his wife to a suicide. He's understandably distraught and buries himself in booze and buds. His dealer Jesus (Jesse Plemons) comes with all the latest strains. In a car wash, Henry buys one called Pussy Finger for $175 (a lot cheaper than the $2,000 he paid fo G-13 in American Beauty).

Henry's a psychiatrist with a bestselling book, but he's the one in need of for help. During his downward spiral, Henry prefers getting stoned to seeing patients. When friends stage the intervention (for weed?), Henry storms out, declaring, "I'm not some drug addict on Wilshire Boulevard. I'm going to my car and I'm gonna take a big hit from a self-medicating joint and then I'm gonna go to Kentucky Fried Chicken, because it's finger lickin' good." It's a smartly-written line, but you just know that Henry will eventually succumb to the film's anti-drug message.

Each of Henry's patients has his or her own storyline. There's comedian Jack (an uncredited Robin Williams), superagent Patrick (Dallas Roberts), wannabe screenwriter Jeremy (Mark Webber), high-school student Jemma (Keke Palmer), aging actress Kate (Saffron Burrows) and partying actor Shamus (Jack Huston). The interconnecting Hollywood stories tip the movie in the direction of Entourage, The Player and Crash.

In a pivotal scene, Jesus sells Henry a special strain called Christmas in Vietnam and both soon end up in the hospital (the joints are laced with embalming fluid). Though this not believable at all, it represents Henry hitting rock bottom.

Back home, Henry flushes his buds down the toilet (nooooo!). Mournfully, he tells Jemma, "I used to smoke a lot of weed out here. Not anymore."

Blaming Henry's problems on marijuana is a cheap shot. Director Jonas Pate and writer Thomas Moffett take the low road in Shrink and the movie suffers for it.

Review by Steve Bloom

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Comments (2)

2 Sunday, 26 July 2009 22:06

bloomdude

Spacey doesn't know what he's talking about. Here's what he tells MTV:

"I think it basically comes down to the kind of pot you smoke. In American Beauty it was G-5 or 4 and in this film it's every kind of bad pot you should probably never smoke. When you look at the variety that my pot dealer Jesse offers up in his little fishing tackle bag, it's pretty remarkable - the names alone. Yeah, he's definitely over self-medicating I would say."

Jesse's character Jesus deals pot in L.A. He surely would have access to some of the best stains available. Why would it be "bad"? Makes no sense. Neither does the movie.

Watch Spacey Clip

1 Sunday, 26 July 2009 18:15

VIPelle

Spacey tries to draw a distinction here:

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/07/24/kevin-spacey-tokes-up-and-kicks-knowledge-about-pot-smoking-in-movies/

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