Grief and suicide seem unlikely subjects for a comedy. But Shrink tries gamely to mine edgy humor from the darkest places. Sometimes it works. Other times, its Hollywood-centric focus feels like a re-heated cinemash of "The Wackness," "Crash" and "The Player."

The film may be too inside-baseball, with strained sympathy and contrived emotions.

Shrink offers a roster of wonderfully eccentric characterizations, shoehorned into a dramatic structure that's just a little too formulaic.

You do wish Pate and writer Thomas Moffett had gone for more wit given the outlandishness of the melodrama since it would be more fun to laugh at this than take it seriously.

These characters are mostly too sketchy and their connections too contrived for Shrink to jell as an incisive ensemble piece.