Phil is still getting over a divorce and, it seems, is clinically depressed. Kinnear strains to convey the character’s inner torment while making him outwardly comic — or at least that appears to be the intent, judging from Rolfe Kent’s sprightly laugh track of a score. Like all depressed people, Phil goes to work with his hair uncombed. Soon he becomes obsessed with a patient, Michael (Bradley Whitford), who has written a successful book on Socrates and looks to have life figured out.
Desperate to learn the secret to Michael’s happiness, Phil begins stalking him — and finds him hanging from a tree. Phil starts posing as Michael’s long-lost friend from Greece and insinuates his way into the life of Michael’s widow, Alicia (Emily Mortimer). If Kinnear’s impersonation of sorrow is cringe-worthy, his “Mrs. Doubtfire” routine — Phil, having agreed to remodel Alicia’s bathroom, learns a few Greek words and tries to smoke a Turkish cigarette — is simply painful.
The subject of suicide sits uneasily alongside scenes in which, for example, Kinnear thrashes about while trying to keep up with a Greek dance. The only thing grimmer than the material in “Phil” is its execution.
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‘Phil’
Rated R for mistreatment of the bereaved. Running time: 1 hour 46 minutes.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.