Serial Killer Steve Buscemi Fixes Your Marriage – ryan

When your marriage is on the rocks, couples therapy is often the next step. Hopefully, the psychologist you choose isn’t some retired serial killer or anything like that. Right? A uniquely dark comedy hitting the masses this week brews a modern-day scenario where something of the sort could actually happen — just in case the film’s overtly long title doesn’t clue you in to the wild and wacky premise. Can you read it aloud without breaking to take a breath? Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer. When MovieWeb recently spoke with the film’s writer-director Tolga Karaçelik, he actually confirmed the title was initially shorter, and that it only grew from there. You’d think it might be the other way around!

The outrageously lengthy title should also clue you in on the quirky nature of this new feature, led by the always appealing Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire, Fargo) and two familiar faces you’ve been seeing on the big and small screens lately: John Magaro (Past Life, September 5) and Britt Lower (Darkest Miriam, Severance), the married couple whose troubled lives become entangled in a madman’s otherwise peaceful existence in New York City. It’s fun stuff that might leave you begging for more, but we encourage you to embrace the small-scale madness for now.

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Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write about a Serial Killer

Release Date: April 4, 2025
Runtime: 102 minutes
Director: Tolga Karaçelik
Writers: Tolga Karaçelik
Producers: Wren Arthur, Sinan Eczacıbaşı, Mustafa Kaymak, Alex Peace

Cast

Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write about a Serial Killer follows a struggling writer undergoing a divorce who forms an unlikely friendship with a retired serial killer. The plot develops as the killer serves as both a marriage counselor and an inspiration for the writer’s book.

Pros & Cons

The three leads are a hoot and work well together.
The dark storytelling is edgy fun.

The third act becomes muddled.

First, there’s the “shallow writer” named Keane (Magaro), a married author who has just one published book to his name. Nothing against this low quantity, since that’s more than most of us aspiring writers can say for ourselves, but Keane has unfortunately spent the last four years harping over his latest unfinished work — and seemingly gotten nowhere. You’ll never guess how that makes his not-so-loving wife Suzie (Lower) feel.

And after a terribly awkward night out with another couple, followed by a near-death experience driving home (which will be thrillingly revisited in the story later on), Suzie pronounces upon their return home that she’d like a divorce. Picture the terrific actress Lower, calm and collected like her Severance outie, delivering such a devastating wish with the most ironic tranquility. And then, imagine the reliably standout Magaro — whose comedic angst has peaked in great films like The Big Short and LaRoy, Texas — reacting with vintage, wide-eyed shock. Just how on earth will the blocked scribe win her back?

The soon-to-be-single Keane hits rock-bottom at a diner, his agent delivering grim career news and stiffing Keane on the bill. But then, a promising catalyst arrives in the form of a mysterious fan named Kollmick (Buscemi). This middle-aged nice guy sounds as suave as Nucky Thompson and urges Keane to keep writing before the author stumbles out of the diner. Of course, Kollmick conveniently runs into Keane at a bar not long after, with Keane soon mustering liquid courage to bring Kollmick home and introduce his new, older pal to Suzie in the middle of the night.

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Added to that, Kollmick has gone as far as to reveal his true nature — retired serial killer — to Keane privately and suggest that it be the subject of Keane’s next book. In exchange, Kollmick will show him the ropes on how to be a successful serial killer (without actually doing the deed) and even pose as a marriage counselor for Keane and Suzie, so that Keane can keep him around without Suzie getting suspicious. What could go wrong?

Things Get Muddled but Still Fun

It’s too bad the third act loses its footing once Keane’s chaotic life goes into overdrive after taking his “serial killing training” a step too far, with the increasingly uneasy Kollmick right there by his side. It helps, however, that the scene-stealing Suzie remains integral in the story, becoming increasingly worried about Keane’s new habits — since she’s unaware Keane doesn’t actually want to kill anyone (it’s just research!).

The film’s first couple acts are pretty darn groovy, especially when the fake therapist that is Kollmick tries to play this daunting role in front of the quizzical Suzie. It’s a relief to know Buscemi shows no signs of slowing down from diving into psychotic roles, which date back to Fargo (for which he should have been Oscar-nominated) and beyond.

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Plus, Severance fans will have a ball discovering that Suzie’s best pal Zoe is played by Sydney Cole Alexander (the stunning but sinister “Natalie” from Ben Stiller’s Apple TV+ series). Zoe doesn’t have enough scenes but effectively serves as a soundboard for Suzie’s suspicions after she overhears certain terrifying phone conversations between Keane and Kollmick. This is dramatic irony at its finest. You might be itching for more from Kollmick by the end, (flashbacks that could have shown the killer in action during his heyday, for instance), but what does make it onto the big screen here is certainly fun and rewarding enough.

From Brainstorm Media, Psycho Therapy will be released in additional theaters and on demand April 11.