What About Bob?

Plot[edit]

Bob Wiley suffers from multiple phobias which makes leaving his New York City apartment difficult. Despite regular therapy, he makes little progress and he constantly seeks reassurance from his therapists. Exhausted by Bob's high-maintenance needs and invasion of personal boundaries, one therapist refers him to the egotistical Dr. Leo Marvin, who believes his recently published book Baby Steps will make him a household name. Bob feels good about their initial session, but Leo dismisses him in a rush, as he is leaving for a month-long family vacation. Unable to cope, Bob contacts Leo via his telephone exchange and tries to find out where he is, but Leo dismisses him. Then, Bob pays someone to impersonate Leo's sister Lily to get past the switchboard operator again. However, Leo tells Bob he cannot trust him if he continues to lie. He then disguises himself as a homicide detective, telling the switchboard operator that Bob committed suicide and discovers Leo is at Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire.


Annoyed, Leo suggests Bob "take a vacation" from his problems. He seems to have made a breakthrough, but the next morning, he tells Leo that he will also be vacationing at Lake Winnipesaukee as a guest of the Guttmans, who hold a grudge against Leo for purchasing the lakeside home they had been saving for years to buy. Leo rejects Bob's attempts at friendship to maintain professional distance, but Bob bonds with Leo's family. Bob begins to enjoy life, going sailing with Anna and helping Siggy learn how to dive, which Leo had been unsuccessfully trying for years. After Leo aggressively pushes Bob into the lake, Leo's wife Fay forces him to apologize. She then invites Bob to dinner and he accepts, believing that Leo's hostility against him is either accidental or part of his therapy. After dinner, a thunderstorm forces Bob to spend the night. He stops touching everything with tissues, progressing in overcoming his germaphobia. Leo wants Bob out of the house early the next morning before Good Morning America arrives to interview him about Baby Steps. The TV crew, oblivious to Leo's reluctance, suggest also having Bob on the show. Leo humiliates himself during the interview, while Bob is relaxed and speaks highly of Leo, the family, and the book, inadvertently stealing the spotlight.


Leo attempts to have Bob institutionalized, but he is soon released after befriending the hospital staff. He tells them therapy jokes, demonstrating his sanity and showing that he has made real progress thanks to his time with the Marvin family. Forced to retrieve Bob, Leo abandons him in the middle of nowhere, but he quickly gets a ride back to Leo's while various mishaps delay Leo. Returning after nightfall, Leo is surprised by the birthday party planned by Fay and is delighted to see his beloved sister Lily. When Bob appears, putting his arm around Lily, Leo attacks him. Still oblivious to Leo's feelings, Fay explains so Bob finally understands and he agrees to leave.


Leo breaks into a general store, stealing a shotgun and 20 pounds of explosives and kidnaps Bob at gunpoint. He leads him deep into the woods and ties him up with the explosives, calling it "death therapy", and returns to the house, gleefully preparing his cover story. Believing the explosives are props as a metaphor for his problems, Bob applies Leo's "Baby Steps" approach and frees himself of his restraints and remaining fears. Bob reunites with the Marvins and praises Leo for curing him. Leo asks where the explosives are, as Bob says they are in the house, which promptly explodes into flames, to the Guttmans' delight. Leo is rendered catatonic and institutionalized.


Bob later marries Lily and, upon their pronouncement as husband and wife, the still-catatonic Leo finally regains his senses and screams, "No!", but the sentiment is lost in the family's excitement at his recovery, and Leo is forced to accept Bob as his new brother-in-law. A closing text reveals that Bob went back to college and became a psychologist, then wrote a best-selling book titled Death Therapy, for which Leo is suing him for the rights.