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#THE STRANGE STORY OF A GUY NEXT DOOR FOR FREE#
This isn’t played like a complex moment, but one ripped out of a straight-up comedy. Read The Strange Story Of A Guy Next Door And A Novelist Chapter 25 online for free at. You don’t need to get a knife!” Cue the screwball comedy as Ike trips and falls, carrying items he insists are his. Phyllis turns to her brother in a panic: “Should I call the cops? How crazy is he, one to 10? Should I get a knife?” Marty scoffs: “This isn’t ‘West Side Story,’ Phyllis. After years of estrangement, Phyllis and Marty reunite at the house in the Hamptons and Ike makes an unexpected appearance. There’s absolutely a seduction going on here, but this scene treats these two characters as a joke, one guy literally bopping the other in the nuts and … what is going on here? Are we meant to take any of this seriously? It’s hard to know because comic banter is sometimes abruptly folded into moments that should feel more alarming. When Ike convinces Marty that the house in the Hamptons needs a brighter coat of paint, we’re treated to a bromance montage of them horsing around, paintbrushes in hand, to the 1988 pop song “Waiting For a Star to Fall” as if we were suddenly transported to an ‘80s rom-com - or more precisely, an Adam McKay-esque comedy spoofing an ‘80s rom-com. But the show’s approach is weirdly miscalculated. The way Ike silkily asserts control over Marty’s life, and why Marty was susceptible to it, is a key element to all of this. Marty’s wealth ends up paying for a lot of that neurosis. Ike could use some therapy himself, not that he would admit it his issues circle around pointless status symbols and his own twisted relationship with class markers. But for someone like Marty, who was prone to shut down at the hint of conflict, Ike’s life coach positivity and promise of “I’m gonna help you and everything’s gonna be all right” feels like a lifeline. The money manipulations start as early as their first session. He’s an upbeat, friendly guy who believes in you and your value. You can see why he was able to maneuver his way into people’s lives. Ike is just perceptive enough of a therapist - says just enough insightful things, with just enough emphasis - to sound plausibly competent. But this is primarily the Rudd-and-Ferrell show, and they find all kinds of interesting notes to play as a couple of Jewish guys from New York who “get” each other in certain superficial but culturally specific ways, which might explain some of Marty’s willing dependence on someone who was clearly taking advantage of him.