On DVD: 'Shrink'

'Shrink' (R) **1/2

Writer: Thomas Moffett
Director: Jonas Pate
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Dallas Roberts, Keke Palmer, Mark Webber, Saffron Burrows, Pell James, Jack Huston, Robert Loggia, Jesse Plemons

"Shrink" is a perfect movie to watch on DVD at home where you can concentrate on the great performances. What you have here are some wise veterans and good actors not many people know about doing good work. You also have some rising talent that make big impressions in this movie. The story itself has it's moments but doesn't come together and feels a little rambled and disjointed. This is a movie for acting and it is headlined by another cool, effective and entertaining performance by Kevin Spacey. Here he plays a psychiatrist in Los Angeles who has a drug addiction and in a great scene his friends and father try to throw an intervention and Spacey's reaction and speech is priceless and pure Spacey. Kevin Spacey has had a rich career and he always makes you feel at ease and feeling good. He is awesome leading a great cast including another great performance by the brilliant young actress Keke Palmer. Palmer was amazing in "Akeelah and the Bee" and she is wise beyond her years here as a teenager who has lost her mother to suicide. Dallas Roberts (A Home At The End Of The World) is great as an ass of a Hollywood agent. Robin Williams makes a cameo and it is funny and it is the best thing he has done in awhile amidst a sea of crap lately. There are also good performances by Jesse Plemons (TV show Friday Night Lights, best drama on television) as a drug dealer and Mark Webber as an aspiring screenwriter. Also there is a great and natural performance by a new actress Pell James who might have a good career ahead of her based on her appeal here, sweet and glowing. All these characters are all connected together in some way to the Spacey character and the movie is entertaining but somehow comes up short in momentum and story. I enjoyed it for the performances and the way that Kevin Spacey always comes off as brilliant in everything he does.