Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Bad Therapy’ on Hulu, in Which a Psycho Psychoanalyst Mucks with an Unsuspecting Couple’s Marriage

Now on Hulu, Bad Therapy tells the story of a psycho psychoanalyst worming around in the brains of a married couple, hoping to split them apart, because it’s fun, maybe? Alicia Silverstone is the wife, Rob Corddry is the husband and Michaela Watkins is their counselor, and firing up this movie means we’re about to find out who among them is the most cuckoo.

BAD THERAPY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: The Howard family is fine, just fine. Susan (Silverstone) is a real estate agent struggling a bit to sell overpriced homes, but she’s doing fine. Bob (Corddry) is the programming manager at the Nature Channel, fine. Susan’s daughter Louise (Anna Pniowsky) — from a previous marriage; he died in a boating accident — is 13, and amidst a rebellious streak, normal, fine.

But just fine just isn’t enough for Susan. They’re not as financially secure as she’d like to be, and Bob kind of wants to have a baby, although she adamantly does not. He seems like an agreeable and easygoing guy, and their sex life seems healthy, and — you know, they’re within the spectrum of functional dysfunction. Normal enough, but not enough to not go to therapy, it seems. So Susan talks Bob into seeing a family/couples counselor, Judy Small (Watkins), recommended by her newly pregnant bestie (Aisha Tyler). It’s fine, and Judy suggests they bring in Louise, and that’s OK, and then she suggests each family member see her individually, and we start to wonder if Judy recently eyeballed a new Porsche and decided to scare up a down payment.

It’s actually worse than that, because Judy becomes a little too proactive in encouraging Susan and Bob to drive wedges between them — apparently so she can steal Bob away, or maybe because she’s bored and crazy, or maybe because she’s a serial braintapper in trouble with a psychologist’s council (led by a David Paymer) for ethics violations. Soon enough, the Howard family is not fine, not fine at all.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Well, it’s no Marriage Story or Fatal Attraction or Analyze This or Analyze That or any of the movies where Woody Allen yammers to his shrink.

Performance Worth Watching: You see a glint in Watkins’ eye suggesting an urge to do something more interesting with her off-kilter character, but this snoozer of a screenplay seems to actively suppress such things.

Memorable Dialogue: “Talk? I hate talk.” — Judy the talk-therapy counselor shows very little self-awareness

Sex and Skin: Fully-clothed sexy straddling.

Our Take: What is Bad Therapy exactly? A psychological thriller? Nah. A comedy? Not really. A black comedy? Maybe a little. It’s more an amalgamation of the blandest elements of all three; a thin, insubstantial, almost flavorless oatmeal of a domestic dramedy, leached of its nutrients and served lukewarm in a styrofoam bowl. You’ll wish someone had sprinkled a little cinnamon sugar on it; lord knows Silverstone tries to spice it up, but she overplays the role while Corddry and Watkins underplay theirs, and it’s all just so much bland tonal mush.

The movie excels at introducing supporting characters — played by Paymer, Tyler, Haley Joel Osment, Sarah Shahi — and then doing a diddley or two shy of squat with them. They contextualize the main characters, seem on the verge of doing something interesting on camera, then disappear. It barely gives Judy Small any motive beyond setting her up as a loon who frequently is in therapy herself, until we learn she’s been spilling her guts to a mannequin the whole time. It’s based on screenwriter Nancy Doyne’s novel, allegedly inspired by true events, but the story shows fleeting interest in the complexities of marriage, or the psychology of a counselor who needs counseling, or even the trashy impulses of a Preposterous Thriller. Yawn rating: 9 YAWNS (OUT OF 10 POSSIBLE YAWNS).

Our Call: SKIP IT. Bad Therapy will vanish from your memory in 20 minutes.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Watch Bad Therapy on Hulu