World Premiere
Numb
| USA, Canada | 96 MINUTES | (Unknown)Drama, Comedy
Harris Goldberg makes his feature directorial debut with this dark comedy about a screenwriter falling in love in the midst of a psychological crisis. Thirty-five-year-old Hudson (Matthew Perry) is making it in Hollywood-sort of-until the day he takes a few too many hits off a joint, and everything changes. Although he has a hard time describing it to his writing partner Tom (Kevin Pollak), or any of the numerous shrinks he visits, nothing feels “real” anymore. By the time he figures out that he's suffering from acute depersonalization disorder, Hudson is so isolated and alienated that it seems like nothing will break through his shell. Until, in a nearly ill-fated pitch meeting, he discovers Sarah (Lynn Collins), the woman of his dreams. Though Sarah tries everything to help Hudson-from Star Wars marathons to strip clubs-he doesn't seem to be getting any better. Meanwhile, he visits a rotating roster of psychologists who give him one drug cocktail after another, while he maintains his self-prescribed therapy: mainly the Golf Channel, with a spinning class or two. As this smart commentary on our over-analyzed, over-medicated, self-improvement age unfolds, Goldberg unflinchingly depicts the sometimes funny, sometimes melancholy contradiction of trying to “make it” in Hollywood-and in love-while falling apart on the inside. As Hudson stands on a Los Angeles street corner at 4:45 a.m. (his favorite time of day because there is no one else around), he starts to seem less like a psychological abnormality, and increasingly like a character whose fears and neuroses are more universal than one might have thought.
Beacon Theatre
The Rush system functions as a standby line that will form at the venue approximately one hour prior to scheduled start time. Admittance is based on availability and will begin roughly 10 minutes prior to program start time. Rush Tickets are the same price as advance tickets and are payable upon entry.