Review of Listen Up Philip (2014) by Cody C — 24 Mar 2015

As a clinical study of narcissism, the movie more than succeeds. And some of the funny moments like him dressing down his wheel chair bound best friend were hilarious. However, the movie did not take me on an emotional journey.

There were several strong possibilities. For example, narcissists usually realize in their fifties that they are all alone because they have used and abused everyone close to them. Friedman never gets there even with the cautionary tale of Zimmerman.

Or, we could have taken a ride with Friedman's girlfriend, Kane. We get to focus on her for a bit and how she eradicates herself from Friedman's hold over her, but again it was more clinical versus a roller coaster.

We see the effect he has on her, but I did not experience it. The lesson learned is that the best way to deal with a narcissist is to cut off all contact. Yet, that was not an epiphany. One small point on character development.

Narcissist usually rely upon their accomplishments to suck people in. However, Friedman attains at best mediocre fame. It is difficult to see how he could successfully suck in some of his students the way he does.

Perhaps being a poor narcissist could have been used for a laugh, but there was nothing in the second half of the movie. And as an audience member I was never sucked into Friedman's narcissism like I should have been.

That movie would have been worth four stars at least, especially if I got to take at least two journeys for the price of one.