I was in High School when What About Bob premiered and enjoyed every second of it. I’m not sure if I saw it in the theaters. I could have – I really don’t remember. But ever since then, it’s been one of my “go to movies” if I ever wanted a great laugh.
The movie is loaded with talent. Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss are the headliners. It’s directed by Frank Oz, one of the geniuses behind Sesame Street. And the writer, Tom Schulman, also is no joke, as he wrote Dead Poets Society and rewrote Honey I Shrunk the Kids in a week.
If you saw the movie, you know it works. The comedic timing is perfect, which is a result of great directing, writing, and acting.
Let’s get into the why.
BOB WILEY: THE TYPE NINE – PEACEKEEPER
Your average Type Nine personality is your easy-going character. Even though they are not psychologists, they tend to have a good grasp on reading people. For this reason, Nines naturally gravitate towards playing the role of an arbitrator during intense debates – hence the name Peacekeeper. They are not confrontational personalities at all. They are laid back and have life on cruise-control.
Bob Wiley, despite his psychological defects, was a type nine. Everyone loved Bob except Dr. Leo Marvin. And Leo’s hatred for Bob was just a result of extreme paranoia and jealousy.
When Type Nines are not at their best, they become enveloped in fear, and shelter themselves in one place, fearing to move their life in any direction. And when we meet Bob in Act One, that is exactly what he is.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Healthy Type Nines get off their ass and do something with their life, which was the character arc for Bob. And it was ironically Dr. Leo’s Baby Steps, that got him there. The healthier Bob got, the crazier Dr. Leo got.
The very interesting thing about this movie is that Bob is not the protagonist – he’s actually the antagonist – the bad guy. He’s the crazy nut who stalked his psychologist on his vacation, invaded his personal space, took his career from him, blew up his house, then drove him crazy – not on purpose, though. He unknowingly did this. Type Nines, are usually not the antagonist in movies. How would you ever drive your story forward when you have a villain, who is too lazy to do commit any crimes – and therein lies the genius.
DR. LEO MARVIN – THE TYPE FIVE INTELLECT
Type Fives are your theoretical observers of society. They prefer to study nature from a distance, rather than interacting with it. This type of persona tends to theorize rather than exercise – if you get my drift. For example, Einstein created the Theory of Relativity. That’s great. What did he do with it? Nothing. Other people took his theory and flew with it, not him.
Dr. Leo Marvin was an accomplished psychologist who ironically couldn’t interact with his own family. And despite writing a book on human interaction, he couldn’t exercise his own theories.
Leo was an Average Five at the beginning of the movie, and as we progressed to the third act, he disintegrated to the point where he validated his plot to murder Bob. In the end, he became trapped in his mind. Now, this can happen to a genius. It’s not far fetched for brilliant minds to go crazy. Brian Wilson from Beach Boys, John Nash, Howard Hughes, are a few brilliant minds who went cookoo.
And yes, Dr. Leo was the protagonist in this movie, who failed in the third act to resolve his problems.
THE SCRIPT – TOM SCHULMAN = GENIUS
I’ll be quite honest. When I first sat down to analyze one of my all-time favorites, I thought the script was rather horrible. I originally had titled this article “What About Bob, Great Movie – Horrible Script.”
But as I started to breakdown the characters on paper, and as I wrote this article, I realized the genius that it was.
Let me start out with the obvious. Bob may be the only Type Nine Peacekeeper antagonist (that works) in the entire cinematic universe. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think I’m right. He’s an extremely likable antagonist, which is also very weird.
Then, there’s this. What about Bob is a comedic tragedy or a “tragicomdey” that is so brilliantly disguised, that we don’t realize that we’re watching one. We’re too busy laughing seeing Dr. Leo lose everything in his life – his career, his family, and his mental state. And throughout it all, we’re cheering for the villain and not the hero.
That’s genius.
This script is not a simple comedy, but much more.
To write something like this – I have to say wow. I’m very impressed. It’s no wonder Tom Schulman is an award-winning screenwriter. That guy is the man. Hands down. It’s too bad he hasn’t written a movie in ten years, the industry could use his brilliance.
GRADE: A
Steve Young
