Martin & Orloff
Dir. Lawrence Blume. 2002. R. 87mins. Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh.

When marketing executive Martin Flamm (Roberts) comes home from the hospital after a failed suicide attempt, he doesn't have supportive relatives to care for him. There's no girlfriend or buddy to ask why he slit his wrists. No member of the clergy to offer sage counsel. What he has waiting for him, in very large quantities, is dried blood. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get dried blood off of bathroom ceramic tile? He puts some elbow grease behind a large sponge, but, jeez, it's gonna take forever!

There you have the first sick, ballsy joke in this disgracefully funny film scripted by several members of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe. Martin does soon turn to someone for help, but unfortunately it's Dr. Orloff (Walsh), a nutjob Manhattan psychiatrist. The crude, irresponsible shrink introduces his fragile patient to strippers, a violent Desert Storm vet (Jon Benjamin) who likes to crap in lavatory sinks and some truly bad dinner theater. Somehow, Orloff believes that this shock therapy will make Martin better. Or maybe the jackass doctor is just screwing with him.

Blume's directorial debut is full of guilty laughs courtesy of the uncomfortable doctor-patient relationship. But it deflates whenever it becomes a forced corporate parody of Martin's absurd workplace. The rest of his life definitely needed to play straight man to his bizarre outings with Orloff. Still, even if 50 percent of the film misfires, Martin & Orloff is more than half of a funny movie: It's half of a very funny one.

—Darren D'Addario

http://www.timeoutny.com/film/423/423.film.martin.rev.html