The Scottish psychiatrist has performed several different experiences about mental illness and its impact on mental patients, where psychiatry at the time of the 1960s had the meaning of change in doctors' efforts.
Tennant is as watchable as ever, resplendent in migraine-inducing psychedelic shirts, walking a fine line between radical visionary and arrogant chancer.
There's plenty of jazzy paisley shirts, flamboyant velvet suits and on-the-nose music cues to denote its psychedelic 1960s setting, but these elements do little to soften Laing's eye-raisingly invasive and possibly inappropriate approach to his patients.
It's fascinating and particularly well cast but, despite Tennant's watchable efforts, the decision to concentrate on the Kingsley Hall years rather than more of Laing's life proves a frustrating one.
David Tennant [plays the role] with conviction and a nice Glaswegian drawl, but the film is a dodgy business that makes things up -- including a pregnant girlfriend (Elisabeth Moss) -- for no good reason.
