The shrink, in the title and in the opening paragraph, is Dr. Henry Carter (Kevin Spacey). He smokes pot constantly, trying to dull the pain of losing his wife to suicide. His interest in his rich Hollywood patients (including an agent played by Dallas Roberts and a movie star played by Saffron Burrows) is declining quickly, and he wishes his current book would stop selling so well. In order to shake him from his shake him from his stupor, Henry's father (Robert Loggia) assigns him Jemma (Keke Palmer), a young girl whose mom also committed suicide. Jemma skips class to watch movies, and she refuses to open up to Henry. Henry also smokes often with his "god brother by marriage" Jeremy (Mark Webber). One evening, Jeremy finds the folder with Jemma's information in it, and tracks her down.

Once upon a time, Kevin Spacey was among my favorite actors. The one-two crime-movie punch of The Usual Suspects and Se7en is impressive all by itself, but he does even better work in L.A. Confidential, and regardless of how one feels about the movie as a whole, I'd be surprised to hear from someone who didn't think he was one of, if not the best parts of Sam Mendes' American Beauty. Recently, however, he's been mostly absent from the screen, and even when he does show up, it's clear he's just in it for the money (i.e. 21 one of the most depressingly, commercially hollow films of 2008). I'd like to think he's more invested in Shrink, because it's clearly a better movie, but he still seems rather detached from the proceedings.

Unfortunately, aside from Spacey, the movie doesn't have any leads. The closest the movie comes is the main characters in the movie's supporting plotlines, like Patrick (Dallas Roberts), an obsessive-compulsive germaphobe Hollywood agent. His character's story is no great shakes -- he acts like a hard-ass to his downtrodden assistant Diasy (Pell James), but underneath he's kind of nice! -- but Roberts performs it so well, I'd have watched a movie that wasn't about anything other than his character. Pell James is also good, as her character gets involved with Jeremy as Jeremy tries desperately to get one of his screenplays through to Patrick. Webber, on the other hand, has a limited range, but the scene where he follows Jemma around on a night of partying is wonderful and delicate. The movie never ruins it either; a lesser film would have introduced a jealousy subplot between Daisy and Jemma or had a character question the age difference between Jeremy and Jemma, but thankfully Shrink showcases a platonic friendship, and everyone in it accepts it.

In the end, Shrink arrives at a conclusion similar to an Oscar-bait ensemble picture, even though the rest of the movie doesn't function like one. It seems like there's something holding the movie back; a wrench in the gears or a fifth wheel that's keeping the more interesting plotlines from soaring. If I had to eliminate a story, it would be Spacey's (not to mention an even more extraneous story about a male movie star having a breakdown); what more is there for Henry to learn than to stop avoiding his feelings and accept his wife's death, and why isn't that a journey he could take alone? The audience has no investment in the mild romantic interest Henry has for Burrows' movie-star character, and he ultimately plays an incidental role in Jemma's journey towards happiness. Screenwriters seem to forget that they're not psychologists themselves, and sometimes, the answers to life's problems are simple. It's the journey that matters, and only some of the characters in Shrink have a journey to embark on.