What About Bob?

What About Bob? is a 1991 American comedy film directed by Frank Oz and starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. Murray plays Bob Wiley, a mentally unstable patient who follows his egotistical psychotherapist, Dr. Leo Marvin (Dreyfuss), on vacation. When Bob befriends the members of Leo's family, the patient's problems push the doctor over the edge. The film received positive reviews and grossed $63.7 million in the US.
In New York City, neurotic and multiphobic Bob Wiley spends his life in a near-constant state of distress. Exasperated by Bob's high-maintenance needs, his therapist closes his practice and refers Bob to the egotistical and controlling Dr. Leo Marvin, who believes his new therapy book, Baby Steps will make him famous. Leo gifts Bob a copy of Baby Steps and makes an appointment to see him in a month following the Marvin family's vacation. Unable to cope without regular reassurance, Bob repeatedly calls Leo's telephone exchange in failed attempts to deduce where he is staying. Bob then visits the exchange while posing as a detective investigating Bob's suicide and learns that the Marvins are at Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire.
Bob travels to Lake Winnipesaukee by bus, irritating the other passengers with his habits. He encounters Leo, who agrees to call Bob at a local coffee shop if he then returns home. Out of spite, the shop owners, the Guttmans—whom Leo outbid for their dream lake house—take Bob directly to Leo. Bob is introduced to Leo's wife Fay, their teenage daughter Anna, and young son Siggy, who are charmed by his eccentric personality, much to the uptight Leo's chagrin. Eager to get rid of Bob, Leo tells him to return to the city and take a vacation from his problems. Having never been on vacation, Bob takes the advice literally, remaining in Lake Winnipesaukee.
Bob unintentionally bonds with Leo's family, going sailing with Anna (after being tied to the mast to overcome his fears), inadvertently giving Siggy the confidence to dive into the lake—which Leo had failed to instill for years—and overcomes his germophobia. After Leo pushes Bob into the lake, Fay forces him to apologize and invites Bob to dinner. Oblivious to Leo's hostility, Bob accepts as he believes the events are part of Leo's radical therapy techniques. A thunderstorm forces Bob to spend the night, but Leo demands that he leave the following morning before Good Morning America arrives to interview him about Baby Steps. The TV crew arrive early and, despite Leo's reluctance, feature Bob in the interview as an example of his book's success. Leo humilitates himself during the interview by giving stilted and nervous responses while Bob speaks highly of the Marvins and the book, unwittingly stealing the spotlight.
Infuriated, Leo attempts to have Bob institutionalized, but he quickly befriends the hospital staff who are convinced he is perfectly sane. Leo then abandons Bob in a remote location, but Bob hitches a ride back to the lake house while various mishaps delay Leo. A dishevelled Leo returns after nightfall, but is happily surprised by the crowd awaiting him for his birthday, including his sister Lily. When Bob appears and puts his arm around Lily, Leo snaps and attacks him. Leo is sedated and his family reluctantly ask Bob to leave due to Leo's seemingly irrational anger towards him.
A manic Leo sneaks out and steals a large amount of explosives from the general store. He abducts Bob, straps him to the explosives, and abandons him in the woods, dubbing the experience "death therapy". Believing the explosives are a metaphor for his problems, Bob frees himself of his restraints and remaining fears. He reunites with the Marvins and praises Leo for curing him. Leo worriedly enquires about the whereabouts of the explosives, which Bob reveals are in the lake house. The house explodes, to the observing Guttman's delight, and Leo is rendered catatonic and eventually institutionalized.
Some time later, Bob marries Lily and, upon their pronouncement as husband and wife, Leo snaps out of his catatonic state and screams, "No!", but the sentiment is lost in the family's excitement at his recovery. A closing text reveals that Bob went back to school and became a psychologist, then wrote a best-selling book titled Death Therapy, for which Leo is suing him for the rights.
Before Frank Oz was hired to direct, Garry Marshall was considered, and Woody Allen was approached to play Dr. Marvin. Allen was also considered to direct and possibly co-write the script with Tom Schulman. However, because Allen had always generated his own projects rather than getting handed an existing property to make his own, Oz was hired to direct. Allen also declined the role of Dr. Marvin, thus Richard Dreyfuss was ultimately cast. Patrick Stewart was also considered for the role. Early in development, Robin Williams was attached to the project.
What About Bob? was filmed in and around the town of Moneta, Virginia, located on Smith Mountain Lake. For the scene in which Bob accidentally blows the house up, producers used a ⁠3/4⁠-sized model replica of the actual house that they detonated on a nearby lot. The scenes of Bob arriving in town on the bus with his goldfish were filmed in downtown Moneta, which was repainted for the movie. The local institute where Leo tries to commit Bob is actually the local Elks National Home for retirees in the nearby town of Bedford, Virginia. Scenes were also shot in New York City. According to Oz, Murray was "really frightened" about filming in the city. Murray said that he improvised a lot in the film.
Oz has confirmed in interviews that there was conflict on the set during the making of the film. In addition, both Murray and Dreyfuss have stated in separate interviews that they did not get along with each other during filming:
Oz himself also verified that there was a feud between Murray and Dreyfuss:
In subsequent interviews, Dreyfuss reiterated what he said of his experience working with Murray, notably when he appeared at Fan Expo Canada in 2017. Dreyfuss further alleged in 2019 that at one point during the production, Murray screamed at him while intoxicated, telling him "Everyone hates you! You are tolerated!" and then threw an ashtray at him. When Murray appeared on The Howard Stern Show in 2014, Howard Stern asked him if he intended to irritate Dreyfuss. Murray responded: "I really try to make the other actor look good whenever I can (...) In this particular film, annoying Dreyfuss, which I kind of got to enjoy I gotta confess—but I didn't try to annoy him off the screen." Murray also acknowledged in 2025 that he threw a glass at the ceiling and denied throwing it at Dreyfuss. Although neither of them have crossed paths since the release of the film, Dreyfuss confirmed in a 2020 interview that he has forgiven Murray.
Producer Laura Ziskin recalled having a disagreement with Murray that resulted in his tossing her into a lake. Ziskin confirmed in 2003: "Bill also threatened to throw me across the parking lot and then broke my sunglasses and threw them across the parking lot. I was furious and outraged at the time, but having produced a dozen movies, I can safely say it is not common behavior".
In April 2022, following the suspension of the Being Mortal production, Dreyfuss's son Ben tweeted a recollection about Murray's on-set behavior towards his father and Ziskin: "Bill Murray had a meltdown during [What About Bob?] because he wanted an extra day off and Laura said no and he ripped her glasses off her face and my dad complained about his behavior and Bill Murray threw an ashtray at him." Ben also added, "Everyone walked off the production and flew back to L.A. and it only resumed after Disney hired some bodyguards to physically separate my dad and Bill Murray in between takes."
In April 2015, Richard Dreyfuss sued The Walt Disney Company over the film's profits. Dreyfuss has claimed that Disney refused to hire his chosen auditor, Robinson and Co. Christine Turner Wagner, widow of Turner & Hooch (1989) producer Raymond Wagner, was also involved with the lawsuit.
What About Bob? was released in the United States and Canada on May 17, 1991. During its opening weekend it grossed a total of $9.2 million from 1,463 theaters—an average of $6,299 per theater—making it the highest grossing film of the weekend, ahead of F/X2 ($3.9 million) and Madonna: Truth or Dare ($3.4 million), both in their second weekend. In its second weekend—taking place over the extended 4-day Memorial Day holiday—What About Bob? fell to the number 2 position with an $11.2 million gross, placing it behind Backdraft ($15.7 million) and ahead of Hudson Hawk ($7.1 million), both films making their debut. What About Bob? fell to the number 3 position in its third weekend with a $6.4 million gross, behind the debut of Soapdish ($6.7 million) and ahead of Thelma & Louise ($4.2 million), in its second weekend.
What About Bob? remained in the top-ten highest-grossing films for seven weeks. In total, What About Bob? grossed $63.7 million compared to its $39 million budget, making it the 15th highest-grossing film of 1991. This also made it Buena Vista's second highest-grossing live action film of the year behind Father of the Bride.
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives What About Bob? an 82% approval rating based on reviews from 44 critics and an average rating of 6.50/10. The site's consensus reads: "Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss' chemistry helps make the most of a familiar yet durable premise, elevating What About Bob? into the upper ranks of '90s comedies".
When the television program Siskel and Ebert reviewed the film, Roger Ebert gave the film a "thumbs up" rating praising the different performances of Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss onscreen together as well as most of the film's humor. He said it was Bill Murray's best film since Ghostbusters in 1984. Gene Siskel gave it a "thumbs down" rating and felt Murray gave a very funny and enjoyable performance in the film, but was rather upset by the Dreyfuss character and his angry and arrogant behaviors. He felt it would have been funnier if Dreyfuss had not given such an angry performance in the film and said that Dreyfuss ultimately ruined the film for him. Leonard Maltin said it is "a very funny outing with Murray and Dreyfuss approaching the relationship of the road runner and the coyote". Maltin faulted the film only for its ending, which he found very abrupt and silly. Lou Cedrone from The Baltimore Sun criticized the film: "It is too predictable and deals with a situation that is more irritating than amusing".
Bravo ranked it number 44 on their 2013 list of the "100 Funniest Movies", behind Shampoo and Pee-wee's Big Adventure.
Slant Magazine named Bill Murray's role one the "15 Famous Movie Psychopaths".