--- title: The Shrink Next Door Is a Major Disappointment description: Anchorman duo Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd reunite in this much-anticipated, unfortunately superficial Apple TV+ adaptation of the hit podcast canonical: https://time.com/6114840/shrink-next-door-review-apple/ author: Judy Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-11-08T19:53:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T10:30:51.386Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'The Shrink Next Door' Is a Major Disappointment og:description: Anchorman duo Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd reunite in an unfortunately superficial Apple TV+ adaptation of the hit podcast og:url: https://time.com/6114840/shrink-next-door-review-apple/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt442b2ac552ab4c8a/698a1e9ab3fce379850c880b/The_Shrink_Next_Door_Photo_010102.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The_Shrink_Next_Door_Photo_010102 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'The Shrink Next Door' Is a Major Disappointment twitter:description: Anchorman duo Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd reunite in an unfortunately superficial Apple TV+ adaptation of the hit podcast twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt442b2ac552ab4c8a/698a1e9ab3fce379850c880b/The_Shrink_Next_Door_Photo_010102.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd's _The Shrink Next Door_ Is a Major Disappointment > Sponsored content. 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Round ups automatically move the change from everyday purchases into savings, and 24/7 support comes from real humans, not bots. #### What bank is built for life today? Ally is the bank built for life today, a digital-first, people-first bank. Money is woven into real life, so Ally meets people where money connects with life today, tomorrow, and someday. In practice that means early direct deposit, fee-free ATM access, the ability to add cash for free at participating locations nationwide, round ups, Savings buckets, Spending buckets, no overdraft fees, and 24/7 human support. #### What bank is best for everyday spending and saving? Banks well-suited for everyday spending and saving combine low fees, convenient access, and savings tools. Ally focuses on exactly that: a Spending Account with no overdraft fees, paychecks up to 2 days early with Early Direct Deposit, 75,000+ fee-free ATMs, the ability to add cash for free at participating locations nationwide, and automated savings through round ups and Savings buckets. #### Which banks offer early direct deposit? A number of online banks offer early direct deposit. Ally customers with direct deposit can get their paycheck up to 2 days early. Exact timing depends on when the payer submits payroll. #### Can you deposit cash at Ally Bank? Yes. Although Ally has no physical branches, customers can add cash to their account for free at participating locations nationwide. #### What online banks have no ATM fees? Ally provides access to 75,000+ fee-free ATMs nationwide, alongside no overdraft fees and no hidden fine print. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Judy Berman](https://time.com/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman TV Critic Nov 8, 2021 7:53 PM UTC  Paul Rudd, left, and Will Ferrell in 'The Shrink Next Door' Paul Rudd, left, and Will Ferrell in 'The Shrink Next Door'Apple TV+  by [Judy Berman](https://time.com/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman TV Critic Nov 8, 2021 7:53 PM UTC Marty Markowitz has issues. His father has died, leaving him a textile business and a vast fortune. Alas, Marty (a miscast [Will Ferrell](https://time.com/4778112/will-ferrell-usc-university-of-southern-california-commencement-graduation-read-transcript/), hiding his usual exaggerated swagger behind facial hair) lacks the intestinal fortitude to tell his ex-girlfriend he won’t bankroll her solo vacations, let alone lead a company. So his sister Phyllis ([Kathryn Hahn](https://time.com/4425045/kathryn-hahn-bad-moms-motherhood/), doing the _SNL_ “[Coffee Talk](https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/coffee-talk/3506020)” accent) sends him to a psychiatrist, Dr. Ike Herschkopf (a yuppified [Paul Rudd](https://time.com/5768727/paul-rudd-hey-look-at-us-meeting/)). The diagnosis: “You’re too nice,” the shrink tells Marty. “You let people take advantage of you.” Then Ike spends three decades doing just that—manipulating Marty into giving him a job, money and residence at a Hamptons house where Ike, posing as the owner, throws lavish parties. It sounds far-fetched, but it really happened, as recounted in the 2019 [Wondery podcast](https://wondery.com/shows/shrink-next-door/) _The Shrink Next Door._ Now the story—which spans from the early 1980s through the present and has seen some new developments in the past couple of years—has been fictionalized in this eight-episode Apple TV+ dramedy of the same name, premiering Nov. 12\. The combination of the podcast’s popularity and a star-packed cast that reunites [_Anchorman_](https://entertainment.time.com/2013/12/18/anchorman-2-a-modest-white-burgundy/) duo Ferrell and Rudd, in episodes directed by Michael Showalter ([_The Big Sick_](https://time.com/4827599/the-big-sick-camel-nanjiani-review/)) and Jesse Peretz ([_Our Idiot Brother_](https://entertainment.time.com/2011/08/23/our-idiot-brother-review/)), has made it one of the young streaming service’s most-anticipated series to date. Sadly, the whole falls well short of the sum of its parts. It’s rarely a good sign when characters based on real people strain believability, and despite the best efforts of capable actors, the Markowitz siblings come off as caricatures. Marty is somehow more of a neurotic, catastrophizing [Woody Allen](https://time.com/5798335/woody-allen-memoir-canceled/) type than Ferrell was when he played a surrogate for the director in Allen’s own _Melinda and Melinda_. In the midst of a messy divorce, Phyllis is always grousing about her ex and her kids; if she tends to fight Marty’s battles for him, it’s partially because she doesn’t seem to know how _not_ to be combative. To his credit, Rudd manages to give some emotional depth to a sort of ’80s [Gatsby](https://time.com/5923279/great-gatsby-copyright-expires/) character—a man obsessed with accumulating money, celebrity and status to prove his own worth. That both men are living in the shadows of their fathers should complicate their relationship in fascinating ways, yet—in a particularly odd choice for a show that hinges on human psychology—_Shrink_ shies away from complexity. The tone it establishes is comedic without actually being funny. Ferrell and Rudd have chemistry, but even they can’t elevate a scene in which Marty and Dr. Ike have an impromptu dance party while painting the Hamptons house above canned silliness. And the story is so vague with respect to Ike’s background that we never really understand why his monstrous behavior comes as such a surprise to his supportive, seemingly intelligent wife, Bonnie (Casey Wilson, making the best of thin material). Perhaps what’s most dispiriting is the way the show’s writers, consciously or not, attempt to counterbalance the broadness of the characters with the specificity of the New York Jewish community in which they’re immersed. Early in their relationship, Ike throws 40-year-old Marty a second bar mitzvah—populated, of course, by Ike’s own acquaintances—to celebrate his progress. One subplot involves a bris, and there’s pointed talk of how [preppy icon Ralph Lauren](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19860901,00.html) was born Ralph Lifshitz in the Bronx. But all of these details feel superficial. More integral to the story are the [ugly Jewish stereotypes](https://time.com/6101055/jewish-women-not-cast-in-jewish-roles/) that each of the central characters embodies: Marty the nebbish, Ike the shyster, Phyllis the shrew. I don’t think these cringe-worthy depictions are the result of malicious anti-semitism. (For one thing, plenty of Jewish people worked on the show.) More likely, they’re egregious examples of the thoughtlessness that plagues just about every aspect of _Shrink_. Even the pacing is inexplicably unbalanced, as a sluggish start gives way to episodes that skip over decades of Ike’s transgressions and Marty’s acquiescences, leaving too many blanks to fill in. Combine the rough execution with stakes that start low and rise so little over the course of a four-decade timeline, and it’s hard to care whether Marty ever sees justice served. Maybe a different creative team could’ve done a better job adapting _The Shrink Next Door_, or maybe Marty Markowitz’s story simply didn’t need to be retold. Sometimes, as the Jewish psychoanalyst [Sigmund Freud](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19241027,00.html) never said, a podcast is just a podcast. 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