What About Bob? (1991)
Directed by Frank Oz
Before going on vacation, self-involved psychiatrist Dr. Leo Marvin has the misfortune of taking on a new patient: Bob Wiley. An exemplar of neediness and a compendium of phobias, Bob follows Marvin to his family's country house. Dr. Marvin tries to get him to leave; the trouble is, everyone loves Bob. As his oblivious patient makes himself at home, Dr. Marvin loses his professional composure and, before long, may be ready for the loony bin himself.
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What critics compared What About Bob? to
He is Don Logan, a fear-of-God- inspiring bloke who reaches for the scope and menace of Don Corleone, Keyser Soze and Bill Murray in "What About Bob?"
Nor is it a “What About Bob?” situation, where someone is insufferably obnoxious but only one other character sees it and everyone else chides him for being such a grump.
The genre goes back to the ’60s sitcom “Green Acres” (where a whole town of fruitcakes addled poor Mr. Douglas) and to movies like “What About Bob?,” which gave Bill Murray one of his catchiest roles.
In that sense, one can look at the first portion of Beau Is Afraid as being like What About Bob? on steroids, complete with Bob’s (Bill Murray) extreme phobia of leaving the apartment.
It’s a well-worn trope that’s long been employed in home-invasion thrillers ( The Strangers , Funny Games ), supernatural frightfests ( The Amityville Horror , Poltergeist ), and even comedy ( What About Bob? ).
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That's My Boy is one of those comedies about a walking irritant, like What About Bob?, in which the joke ?
Instead, I kept wondering “What about Bob?” because pickpocket Caldwell is selected because “Bob” vouches for him.