Product Details

• Actors: Loren Dean, Hope Davis, Jason Lee, Alfre Woodard, Mary McDonnell
• Directors: Lawrence Kasdan
• Writers: Lawrence Kasdan
• Producers: Lawrence Kasdan, Charles Okun, Jon Hutman, Linda Goldstein Knowlton, Stephen P. Dunn
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: October 17, 2000
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305763313
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,004 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Loren Dean, a pleasant, attractive actor who seems to fall seamlessly into the background of every film he's in (Gattaca, Enemy of the State, Apollo 13), is perfectly cast in Mumford as a psychologist (named Mumford) who wanders into a small town (named Mumford) and suddenly fits seamlessly into everybody's rhythms and routines. Balancing a no-nonsense approach with a keen ability to listen sincerely to everyone's problems (with the exception of a snotty lawyer, played by Martin Short), he's a friendly, approachable blank slate for all those who come to visit him. And while he's tending to the shopaholic housewife (Mary McDonnell), the pulp-fantasizing pharmacist (Pruitt Taylor Vince), and the anorexic teenager (Zooey Deschanel), no one seems to give a second thought to who the man is behind the therapeutic face, not even his slightly sardonic neighbor (Alfre Woodard). It's not until he befriends a sweetly daft computer billionaire (Jason Lee) and starts treating a chronically fatigued young woman (Hope Davis) that his past--or rather, lack of one--starts coming into play, for it turns out that Mumford is not exactly who he says he is.

Less a mystery than an affectionate, perfectly modulated character study, Mumford easily represents writer-director Lawrence Kasdan's best work in a decade. While the plot seems whimsically Capra-esque and the dialogue sometimes stilted, it's so carefully and quietly directed that its good will and gentle spirit seem to float lightly off the screen. Kasdan hasn't created such engaging characters since The Big Chill, and all are winning without seeming artificial. Most amazing is Davis, who manages to invest a woman suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome with an inner glow that slowly becomes brighter as the film progresses. And Dean, as the enigmatic Mumford, may have finally found his breakthrough role; after years as an also-ran, he finally emerges as a solid, charming leading man. After Mumford, you won't forget his name, or face. --Mark Englehart

From The New Yorker

The definition of "dud." The hero (Loren Dean) is a good listener-a young psychologist in a small American town who uses unorthodox methods and applies common-sense solutions to his patients' not very interesting problems. It turns out he has a secret, but its revelation has no dramatic effect whatsoever. The mood of this tepid comedy, which was written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan, is companionable but vaguely tedious-the movie resembles a droning radio show from about 1946. Kasdan solves his plot difficulties by pairing off the patients in unlikely combinations. With Martin Short, Hope Davis, Mary McDonnell, Jason Lee, and Pruitt Taylor Vince, all wasted. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why can't we all be Mumford?, May 14, 2000

By 

James Hiller (Beaverton, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mumford (DVD)

In the absolutely charming and touching film "Mumford", Lawrence Kasdan manages to do something uncommon in most films today. He creates a troupe of characters which are complex, dynamic, and full. In today's mainstream slop, where chatacters sometimes rate third underneath facades of plots and special effects, it was so nice to sit back, relax, and get to know the inhabitants of Mumford.

The story itself is never out of control or totally unbelievable. That's because you fall in love with the town and its inhabitants almost from the start. Mumford becomes the community we all want to live in, and not because its a quiet little town, but the people that make up that town. You are drawn in to Mumford's reality, and even in the town's imperfections, you find the happiness that undercurrents everything. Quite amazing feeling tone for a film to create.

Loren Dean pulls off his role as the town's new psychologist with such ease and grace, you yourself wish you could be on his couch. Hope Davis is aboslutely radiant as well, complementing but never outshining her counterpart. A favorite and underappreciated actress of mine, Alfre Woodard, shine and glows in her small but pivotal role.

I highly recommend Mumford. I watched it on DVD and longed for the usual treats that DVD brings, but no director's commentary and very few extra features here. Still, rent or buy Mumford today!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Watch this film and call me in the morning., November 21, 2001

By 

Anthony Hinde (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mumford (DVD)

Only in America could a small town be host to three psychologist/psychiatrist practitioners. As an Australian, where it is still shameful to need any kind of mental doctoring, I have long been sceptical of the whole head shrinking profession. Not "L. Ron Hubbard sceptical" but still wary. So it was with some surprise that "Mumford" opened my eyes. Its portrayal of the town's new counsellor makes me want to get therapy. Young Dr Mumford, not to be confused with the town of the same name, is quiet, attentive, honest and tough with his clients. He's more like an old friend than one of Freud's illegitimate offspring.

Strangely, Dr Mumford, (Loren Dean), while the center of the story, is the least unusual character in the film. Typical of Lawrence Kasdan's scripts, the main cast is large and yet well fleshed out. In a way, because we meet most of them within the setting of a psychologist's office, their problems seem more real. At least there, one is expected to lay problems out for an audience. It seems so much more natural than the traditional emotional breakdown or a verbal outpouring to a stranger in a bar.

For the record we get to know a pharmacist with vivid soft-porn fantasies, a wealthy housewife with a shopping compulsion, a tough teenage girl suffering with esteem issues, a fatigued woman forced under the care of her domineering mother and a wealth but friendless inventor who is obsessed with creating a mechanical solution to his loneliness. Even the non-patients are fascinating despite having smaller roles. I particularly like Martin Short's lawyer and Ted Danson's work-a-holic father.

Compared to the other therapists in town, Mumford is a breath of fresh air. He won't put up with [anything] from his clients and it is very enjoyable to watch him kick the local Lawyer out of his office during their first session, apparently just for being a self centered jackass. In another departure from tradition, the Doc makes little attempt to hold his clients confessions in confidence; at least not from Skip, the town's young, eccentric billionaire. But to be fair, Mumford doesn't keep his own secrets from Skip either, and as we find out eventually, his secrets are much more interesting than those his patients reluctantly divulge.

The pace of the film is relatively slow but Kasdan is such a skilled storyteller that I would have been happy if it had never stopped. However, change is inevitable and in Dr. Mumford's case change takes the shape of a winsome yet beautiful patient named Sofie, who has been plagued by chronic fatigue syndrome for years. This is not one of those cookie cutter romances, dropped into the film to keep the female audience happy. As flexible as Mumford's profession ethics are, he can't bring himself to express his growing love for his patient, even after she confesses her feeling for him. It is this dilemma that forces Mumford to take a big step in his life.

"Mumford" is a film for voyeurs and for anyone interested in people. You get the feeling that, Despite their flaws, everyone in the film is worth knowing. Perhaps that is the message Kasdan is trying to deliver. Everybody has a story to tell, if only you dig far enough. And who better to do the digging than a psychologist with his own unique story to tell.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Most Underappreciated Movies of the '90s, May 22, 2006

By 

Joshua Miller "Josh" (Coeur d'Alene,ID) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mumford (DVD)

One of the most underappreciated movies of the '90s, "Mumford" is written & directed by Lawrence Kasdan and is both really entertaining and funny. Loren Dean plays a psychologist named Mumford who lives in a small town called Mumford. Mumford is the most popular psychologist in town, although his methods are a bit strange. He tells other people what his clients have told him, he kicks people out of his office and still maintains a level of popularity. Among his patients are Pruitt Taylor Vince (Trapped, Monster) as a man who has film-noirish fantasies in which he sees himself as a large muscular man. Jason Lee (Mallrats, My Name is Earl) as a young billionaire who can't find happiness. Zooey Deschanel (Winter Passing, Elf) as a young girl who's addicted to...magazines. Mary McDonnel as Althea, a woman obsessed with buying things. And finally, Hope Davis (About Schmidt, The Weather Man) as Sofie, a woman suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
While some of these characters are just there, Mumford befriends Jason Lee's character Skip and falls in love with Sofie. Martin Short is also in the film, an extended cameo basically, as a criminal lawyer who was kicked out of Mumford's office and seeks revenge. All the actors are great in their performances; Dean is perfect as Mumford, Lee is hilarious, Davis looks hot which I've never percieved in any of her other movies, and Deschanel is great, but almost unrecognizable. This is truly a delightful movie and I hope that this will inspire someone to see it. It's well made and very funny.

GRADE: A