Stutz is a documentary made by Jonah Hill about him and his therapist Phil Stutz. The movie is, mostly, in black and white and loosely follows a series of therapy session where Stutz breaks down his methodology and we learn a bit about the two men as they open up to each other during the process.
Even though Hill says at one point he has been in therapy for five years this, similar to Selena Gomez's doc, feels too soon. Hill seems to be very much still in the process of healing. He is too raw, too agitated to offer much perspective or wisdom. The movie is not so much a mechanism to share insight but an extension of his therapeutic process. Which is fine, however, he(like Gomez, same with Matthew Perry on his recent book tour) repeatedly says that he wants his struggle to help people which is noble. However he is still clearly very much still in the process of arriving and above and beyond simply normalizing therapy doesn't have much to offer.
Stutz is much more confident, much more assured, and is clearly a professional and it is clear his process has helped/is helping Hill. However, whether intentional or not, his process is framed as unique. Hill says at the beginning that he tried "traditional" therapy for a long time and it never worked for him until he met Stutz, implying he has a "non-traditional" approach. But what we see is very much contemporary therapy(there's discussion of visualization, calming, breathing techniques, discussion about the inner child which Stutz calls the "shadow"), Stutz may have his own individual vocabulary but the concepts are very much modern therapy as it exists. This, needless to say, is odd and adds an air of pretention to the movie which- with its black and white cinematography, it's meta turn in the first act, and just the socio-economic privilege that underscores the whole scenario- is already kind of pretentious.
Not to say Stutz isn't a great therapist, he clearly is, not to say he hasn't helped Hill who has, as a result, made a lot of progress, he clearly has. Stutz's concepts are very clear, very actionable, and that's great. But it all raises the question, who is this for? Any audience that would watch this movie is most likely already comfortable with the idea of therapy if not had direct experience with it. Superbad fans who have social or emotional prejudices or barriers against therapy aren't watching this movie. And what it offers above the generic therapy-is-normal celebs-do-it-to is not anything you couldn't find on the wiki for CBT(Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) or other contemporary effective methodologies.
It's clear Stutz and Hill have a special relationship and Stutz has helped Hill which is wonderful. But it takes a certain level of narcissism to believe that that is unique especially to the extent that it is documentary worthy. Because celebrities had to go through the struggle and trauma of the pandemic(just like everyone else even if our experiences differ by a matter of degree) I suspect therapy as a subject of documentaries and features will continue in the zeitgeist but the reality is that the 99% have been dealing with these issues longer and with much more severity so what is needed isn't simply "this thing exists and is good" but what do we have to learn as a result.
More self-involvement than self-actualization.
Currently streaming on Netflix.
Don't See It.
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