Rating: 
Summary: Quirky small town film
Review: 'Mumford' is a quirky film about a small town and its quirky people. Dr. Mumford (Loren Dean) is a recently arrived psychologist in the town of Mumford, who has quickly developed a large clientele despite his unorthodox methods. We observe his sessions with a variety of odd characters, many of whom he cuts off in mid sentence or throws out of his office completely.'Mumford' reminds me a little of 'The Muse' where Sharon Stone plays a muse who helps Hollywood types to find their lost talents. Both Mumford and the muse were not what they appeared to be, but helped people anyway because the people just needed something to believe in. Nothing about this film really overwhelmed me. The characters were interesting and the script mildly funny. It tried to be a comedy sometimes and a romance at others and it was mediocre in both regards. It succeeded best as a character study of Mumford and his unusual patients. Loren Dean was a bit too deadpan as Mumford, playing the part much more impassively than we would expect after we learn a little about his past. Hope Davis was terrific as Sofie, the victim of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She looked so weak, frail and constantly out of breath, it was very difficult to tell that she wasn't really sick during the filming. Jason Lee also gave a fine performance as Skip. He delivered an excellent balance of genius and eccentricity that the character required. Overall the film was less funny than peculiar. I gave it a 6/10.
Rating: 
Summary: A charming movie about a small town and a big heart
Review: 'Mumford' is one of those movies that just sort of pops out at you. You never expected to see it, but one day you're at the video store, and BOOM! There's a wonderful movie just sitting there that everyone is missing out on. I've seen 'Mumford' maybe three times. And every time I wait to see the long loads of characters as they tell Doc Mumford their problems and you watch as they change. Everyone chages. The reason this movie is so entertaining, is because 1) Doc Mumford is a handsome, compassionate man with a deep secret. 2) There are tons of characters and each one of their stories is interesting. 3) This is the kind of film that makes you love living in small-town America. And writing in a little love story does the movie some good too! But even if the movie hadn't had the little love story, I would still enjoy it anyway, because it's such a funny and heartfelt movie, that you always find some reason to laugh or ever cry! And even if this review doesn't make you want to see it, read the others and see it anyway! Because it's too good of a movie to miss out on.
Rating:
Summary: Please, please see this movie...
Review: ...because if you don't, you'll be missing out on what was perhaps one of the best "comedies" of 1999. I use quotations here because this movie has some incredibly well-acted emotional moments as the patients progress in their therapy with Doc Mumford. This is a movie about self-discovery, and the resulting sharing with and reaching out to others that comes from achieving this most blessed of human existences. Perhaps my favorite moment in the movie is the perfectly-placed "collage" scene in which the characters are shown in private moments of a range of human emotion. It literally and unexpectedly brought tears to my eyes. Excellent cast, particularly Afre Woodard as Lily. Loren Dean is perfect as Doc Mumford, and I believe the role is played as understated in a deliberate effort to allow the rest of the cast to stand out in key scenes. Good from start to finish.
Rating:
Summary: FABULOUS MOVIE
Review: A great film for everyone, its melodramatic wit and hunor grabs you and makes you watch it from begining to end. If there is a movie to buy for DVD, this is one of few.
Rating: 
Summary: An Endangered Species
Review: A very decent/charming high comedy, complete with nose-tweaks for the hilarious, if always booming, professional self/other-help industry. Do NOT worry about the presence of Ted. Do NOT worry about the irritating but forgivable excesses of L.A. or popular songs in certain previous Kasdan movies. Do worry, if you like, about effete filmfops &/or innocent youthful punks bombarded with emptily cute (or darkly [t]witty or jest plain bloody hip) cinema satire forgetting what comedy is? "Mumford" seeks to engage audience attention, is realistic rather than neo/hyper-realistic, sage instead of sensational. It flows, doesn't JUMP, must seem AWFULLY slow to the extravagantly Web-savvy? Beautiful though, human-sized, sharp without being ungenerous. If we drive this kind of movie entirely out of the marketplace, we will all feel, & be, poorer? Especially recommended as balancing for slickers have enjoyed assorted recent artsier exaggerations of small town life.
Rating:
Summary: Mums the word...
Review: A very discreet movie. Unusual story line delivered in a very casual way. At the end of the movie, the viewer feels appreciative for it's style and concept. A fraudulent psychiatrist with a natural gift. A young Bill Gates mucking around seeking a companion. A patient so insecure that he excludes himself out of his own fantasies. In short, a unique ensemble linked by varying relationships and the town of Mumford. This is definitely a low-key movie. If you can appreciate the young talent exploring new grounds, you will definitely enjoy it for what it is.
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining sleeper
Review: A very good film with a truly interesting story. I don't know how well the story stacks up clinically, but I found all of the various plot lines and psychological problems and resolutions handled believably and dramatically. The film is entertaining. And the performances are quite good. Dean was excellent in the title role, but Alfre Woodard as Lily steals the show. She so beautifully underplays her role that she seems totally human and not at all an unrealized character of some writer or director's imagination.
Rating:
Summary: What psychotherapy should be
Review: An underrated sleeper of a film, Lawrence Kasden again directs a quiet little movie (much like his "Grand Canyon") that shows all we really need to solve our problems is to have someone listen and not judge. Loren Dean's performance is a deadpan masterpiece that nonetheless conveys a caring, simple approach to people he wants to help. This movie is an outstanding date film and although not very flashy leaves you with two hours of an enjoyable little town and the people who live there who are just trying to get by.
Rating:
Summary: Just want to clarify something
Review: Basically,I liked the movie. The reason I rented it was to see how the girl with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was portrayed. I have been severely disabled with CFS ,same as my mother, for as long as I can remember. I am 36 now. I was a nurse when I got too sick to work anymore in 94. The girl in the movie.... I think she had a very mild form of CFS,if that is what she had at all. They did make the illness very "real" and not all in her head,but made it look as if love cured her illness or something. That is the only thing I did not like about the movie. Since the movie wasn't about CFS,I think they did a good job making the illness "real",though it didn't appear as severe as the illness really is,usually. Otherwise,it was a pretty good movie.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing New, Yet Engaging
Review: Doc Mumford (Loren Dean) is a small-town psychologist who, in his short four months there, has become one of the most well-liked and respected men in the town. Of course, it helps that there are enough problems in this town to fill an abnormal psychology text book. The charm of the movie, Mumford, lies not in the secrets the people keep, but in the love they all share. Writer/Director Lawrence Kasdan is treading familiar ground in Mumford. The feel, the angst, (even some of the actors!) are taken from his fabulous 1991 film Grand Canyon. Unlike the earlier work (which dealt with real issues surrounding race relations and violence), Mumford is set in an almost idyllic small town where the worst problems are personal issues of self-esteem. But Mumford is engaging in its own way. The story centers around Doc, a smart, sensitive, relative newcomer to the town of Mumford (yes, Doc and the town share the same name). While he isn't exactly unorthodox, he isn't afraid to tell his patients to stop talking or even to refuse clients. He even has a penchant for discussing his clients with his patient/friend Skip Skipperton (Jason Lee, Chasing Amy). The ensemble cast that visits Doc range from Skip, a young billionaire whose high-tech company is the lifeblood of the town, to Althea, a mother of two with a shopping addiction. Doc becomes torn, however, when he finds himself falling for one of his patients, Sofie (Hope Davis, Next Stop, Wonderland), a young woman suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Dean is great as Doc, with an understated humor that reminded me of an optimistic Charles Grodin. His character is multi-faceted, but it isn't until later in the story that his layers start revealing themselves. Alfre Woodard (Star Trek: First Contact) does a wonderful turn as Doc's neighbor Lily. Her small supporting role offers a sounding board to Doc, who has no where to turn with his own problems. Despite its great cast and humorous twists, Mumford ultimately relies on love to resolve every plot complication. Like in Grand Canyon, Kasdan seems to be under the impression that love conquers all, and the best way to bring conclusion to a story is to pair off the players so they can all live happily ever after. I have nothing against happy endings, but it compromises credibility when everything turns out well. Mumford seems not to be a story about the real world as an allegory about the human heart. It's not a bad story, but it appears to be a simplified solution to a complicated problem.
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