Critic Reviews

If there's a flaw in this storytelling, it's not about the patient. ... A spellbinding tale, for all its repetitions, with stellar performances by Messrs. Ferrell and Rudd.

Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd buoy one of the more compelling podcast-to-TV adaptations to date.

The series immerses audiences in the lives of its lead characters in order to elicit two distinct reactions: sympathy for one, indignation for the other. The tension that grows over eight hour-long episodes can feel redundant and aggravating at times, but the payoff is well worth it.

This tragic true story finds just the right blend of comedy and drama, as it’s hard to not laugh at the absurdity of this situation while also finding the deep trauma occurring to be deeply disturbing. The Shrink Next Door is a consistently beguiling series that pushes Rudd and Ferrell as actors in ways we’ve never seen before.

Together they [Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell] create a fascinatingly intricate psychological system of adulation and abuse. .... The miniseries is an in-depth, visceral portrait of long-con indoctrination, of how what feels like love may actually be contempt.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. It does occupy a sort of no-man’s-land between comedy and drama, being neither very funny nor very dark. In the hands of another writer or director it could have gone in either of those directions, and would have been a richer experience, but it is still a great yarn, entertainingly played and buoyed along by Rudd.

It's a methodically paced, odd but mesmerizing piece set to an infectious soundtrack highlighted by its strategic use of '80s soft rock hits. Besides, the cast hoists the show over and through its slack spots.

Rudd's boyish charm is so pervasive he almost makes you believe there's affection for Marty beneath Dr. Ike's smarm, while we yearn for Marty to wake up and reclaim the shaggy humanity at the core of Ferrell's wonderful performance. [22 Nov - 5 Dec 2021, p.9]

As creepy as Ike’s obsession is, it never gets creepy enough to be truly unsettling. All in all, though, it’s worthwhile just to see Ferrell and Rudd expand their acting ranges a bit and delve deep into a story that’s so strange, it has to be true.

Playing against type, they [Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell] play beautifully off one another.