Jonah Hill goes meta and interviews his psychiatrist, Phil Stutz, in the Netflix documentary STUTZ. The two openly discuss love, life, and tools to help people with their mental health. It’s heartwarming to see Hill make this movie so that he can give the therapeutic tools from Stutz to the public. While the two leads discuss the details of their personal lives, they unfortunately barely scratch the surface of the discussed tools.
What I’ll take away from STUTZ is less about his tools and more about how much I liked the man himself. He’s a funny, gentle, caring soul who uses comedy as a defensive mechanism to avoid talking about his emotions. He also has Parkinson’s and turns that adversity into positive energy. It’s inspiring to watch.
The primary tools I’ll take away from this film are his depiction of staying happy and its three simple things to focus on if you feel lost:
- Body – eat healthily and work out.
- People – surround yourself with people. Even if it’s awkward, make an effort.
- Yourself – love thy self.
If you have those three things in your life when you encounter what he calls “Part X,” you can overcome adversity. Part X is pain, uncertainty, and constant work. Per Stutz, the bigger your Part X (adversity), the bigger your opportunity to do something extraordinary.
Despite being a therapy session captured on film, STUTZ inspires audiences to “take action, no matter how frightened they are.” I’m happy to add any film with this much positive sentiment and energy to my “grateful flow.”
It’s available on Netflix.
