The Couch Trip

The Couch Trip
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Ritchie
Produced by	Lawrence Gordon
Written by	Screenplay: Steven Kampmann William Porter Sean Stein Novel: Ken Kolb
Starring	Dan Aykroyd Charles Grodin Walter Matthau Donna Dixon Richard Romanus David Clennon Arye Gross
Music by	Michel Colombier
Cinematography	Donald E. Thorin
Editing by	Richard A. Harris
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date(s)	January 15, 1988
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$17 million
Box office	$11,005,304

The Couch Trip is a 1988 comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie. It stars Dan Aykroyd, Walter Matthau, Charles Grodin and Donna Dixon.

Plot

Mental patient John Burns (Aykroyd) gets the chance to fill in for his doctor when he intercepts a telephone call while being reprimanded in the doctor's office, asking if Dr. Baird could fill in for Dr. George Maitlin (Grodin) on his popular radio talk show. Burns jumps at the chance to escape the hospital. With the help of Dr. Baird's secretary, he breaks out and picks up a waiting ticket at the Chicago airport, assuming Dr. Baird's identity.

Burns arrives in Los Angeles, where he is met by Dr. Maitlin's radio show assistant Laura Rollins (Dixon) and escorted to the waiting limousine. He crosses paths with Donald Becker (Matthau), a crazy priest who is collecting money to save plants. Becker recognizes the trousers Burns is wearing to be asylum issue.

When the time comes to do the radio talk show, Burns is a huge hit, offering people free consultations and using profanity on the air. He even arranges for listeners to go to a baseball game at Dodger Stadium for free (where he also leads the singing of the national anthem).

All goes well until Dr. Maitlin meets the real Dr. Baird in London, when they both attend the same seminar. They fly back to L.A. to try and find what is going on behind their backs.

Burns has been paid for the show (in cash) and is ready to leave town when he sees on the in-flight TV that Becker is on top of the Hollywood sign shouting Baird's name. Burns decides to go back and help to resolve the situation, where he is arrested only to be rescued on the way to the penitentiary by Becker and Maitlin's assistant Rollins.

In the last few scenes of the movie, Burns gives his inmate number "7474505B" which is the same number that Jake Blues had in The Blues Brothers and Louis Winthorpe III in Trading Places.

Cast

• Dan Aykroyd as John Burns
• Walter Matthau as Donald Becker
• Charles Grodin as George Maitlin
• Donna Dixon as Laura Rollins
• Richard Romanus as Harvey Michaels
• Mary Gross as Vera Maitlin
• David Clennon as Lawrence Baird
• Scott Thomson as Klevin
• David Wohl as Dr. Smet
• Arye Gross as Perry Kovin
• Victoria Jackson as Robin
• Chevy Chase as "Condom Father" (cameo appearance)

External links

• The Couch Trip at the Internet Movie Database