4. What About Bob? (1991)
Buena Vista Pictures
Bob: What if Im looking for a bathroom, I cant find one, and my bladder explodes? There is a great myth amongst Hollywood, at least according to Robert Zemeckis, that film titles with question marks in them are destined to fail hence the grammatically incorrect title Who Framed Roger Rabbit. While Zemeckis rule may in fact be referring to Betteridges rules of headlines (Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no) there is still no proof that the exclusion of a question mark puts a film in any better stead, with the correctly titled What About Bob? being one of the more frequently cited examples. It is nonetheless one of Murrays more controversial roles, the source of most of the humour coming from Bobs myriad phobias, introduced to us in a torturous opening scene in which Murray tries to make his way through a building to meet his new psychiatrist, Dr Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss). As the film continues and after a handful of convenient plot turns Marvin grows increasingly frustrated with Bobs behaviour and the lines of whether we are laughing withmental illness or at it comes to the fore. Its a touchy subject, and one that the film has come under a lot of fire for, but the combination of Murrays effervescent charm, the fact that under the surface its a good-hearted film, and a desensitisation to shock comedy in recent years keeps What About Bob? reined in.