Numb

Hudson Milbank (Matthew Perry) is a depressed Hollywood screenwriter who can't feel anything. He bounces from one psychiatrist to another. His life takes an interesting turn when he meets the lovely Sara Harrison (Lynn Collins).

Director/writer Harris Goldberg doesn't have the creativity to make this movie quirky. I wasn't certain what it was trying to do for quite awhile. Then Lynn Collins gets into the movie and I figure this was a nice little rom-com. But then Lynn gets yanked out of the movie. It completely disrupted the flow. Mary Steenburgen provided some quirky funny moments in the last half, but it's too little. Lynn was sorely missed. A depressed Matthew Perry is just not compelling all by himself.

Goldberg's 'Numb' tells an intense and funny 'tale' of a writer suffering from depersonalized disorder while facing other difficulties (his kleptomania, his dysfunctional family, his love). This is no disease-of-the-weak movie that preaches about a sickness because Goldberg adds plenty of humour that is dark, satirical, subtle, dry and adult while keeping us entertained from start to finish. He also keeps us involved in Hudson's life. I wonder how much of it is based on Goldberg's own experience. The dialogues are funny, witty and clever. Though the movie does sort of mock psychologists and psychiatrists (in a hilarious way) but the problems surrounding the disorder and the central character's anguish is well depicted and people will recognize them as almost everyone has felt depersonalized at least for one moment or another. Matthew Perry's excellence in comedy is already well known and here it was great to see him act on a more intense level. The actor can definitely do more than comedy (as was also evident in 'Birds Of America'). I think it is the first time I heard him say the 'F' word. His understated performance as Hudson draws sympathy from the viewer but also laughter during the lighter moments. Of the 'Friends' lead cast, only Perry along with Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox seem to have 'grown' as actors. Lynn Collins holds her own and has a good screen presence. Mary Steenburgen is laugh-out-loud hilarious as the steamy 50+ psychologist who hasn't done 'it' in seven years. Thus, 'Numb' was a fun and enlightening watch. Goldberg and Perry have done a superb job and this is one movie I definitely would be revisiting soon.

I saw this at the Austin Film Festival and thought it was one of the best romantic comedies I have seen in years--and from the most unlikely source material. Beautifully written with a light hand, it exploits extreme situations for humor but always goes beyond simple shock value and superficial, quirky tics. (This writer has had enough of movies like Superbad and Knocked Up, which wear audiences out with shock humor, and I didn't see the point of Napolean Dynamite, in which minimalist, oddball moments fail to accrete to a real story.) Numb is instead an eccentric, hilarious film with depth, heart and soul. The tone was spot on: though based on deeply painful autobiographical material, Numb is never maudlin or pathetic. And Matthew Perry is outstanding--prevented from being outlandishly Matthew Perry ("Zero," the director reportedly commanded him. "Nothing. You're numb."), it seemed he was forced to funnel his comic genius into tiny, brilliant moments. A gem of film.

For some reason I ended up watching 3 movies about mental disorder this week. The first was "Helen" starring Ashley Judd which was very powerful but thoroughly depressing. The second was "The Bridge", a documentary showing people jumping to their deaths off the Golden Gate Bridge. Not as morbid as it sounds, but still heavy stuff. And the third was "Numb" which was totally refreshing.

Here we get Matthew Perry's unique brand of humour (charmingly cynical) but much more laid back than you'd expect from his Chandler role on Friends. Here he plays the part of a person who is mature & basically stable yet suddenly hit with an acute case of insanity. In that respect, there's almost a childlike quality to him as he seeks to discover what went wrong. I think that's what makes this so fun to watch, even though the prospect of losing one's mind is inherently depressing.

This is no madcap comedy with witty zingers & one-liners. It's more of a situational-laugh thing. Some of the gags are really subtle, like jokes set up without any punchline (which you must infer). A lot of the gags are based on crazy awkward situations. For example, a psychiatrist starts to lose it in a restaurant, talking in a controlled whisper one minute and then yelling at the busboy to "F OFF!" the next minute for filling her water glass. Lol, no punchline required.

I think this film found the perfect balance between comedy and drama. Too much comedy, and it mocks the subject. Not enough comedy and it gets depressing. "Numb" got it just right. It has both comedy as well as some insightful, dramatic moments.

If you are among the privileged few who have... shall we say... unusual brains (interpretation: total nutcase), or if you know someone who fits the description, you should watch this movie. It'll give you a greater appreciation for the people who have psychological problems as well as those who love them. And it'll do so by giving you some laughs and a smile on your face.

Since the 'friends' era (someone was bound to bring it up), Perry's films have always shared the typical romance/comedy element, although I must nuance by saying the emphasis tended to differ, but now it seems that Matt has chosen a different path, trying to prove himself as a serious actor in drama's, although he hasn't fully abjured comedy (not that he should, as long as it remains tasteful). The recent 'The Ron Clark Story' proved to be a big hit in the rose and 'Numb' was the next logical step, providing him with a more challenging and diverse role even namely a screenwriter having to deal with a peculiar form of depression; 'depersonalization'.

Judging the authenticity of his performance is very hard, seeing that I, like most people, have never heard of the condition in question. I do believe most reviews coming from people suffering from it or having suffered from it in the past were predominantly positive. Perry's natural charm and his impression of being clumsy have to be suppressed, and having dealt with depression in real life the actor can dig into his own experience to come up with a real life character, and he does so with furore, wisely underplaying and steering away from his typical comedy style, meanwhile the film still has a lot of off beat comedy moments to lighten the material at hand a bit, certainly a welcome comical relief.

The low-key tone of the film might make it difficult for some people to access, but I would still recommend it to most people.

7.7/10