About Schmidt
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Movie Reviews of About Schmidt
Movie Review: They say that young people won't get it.
Summary: 5 Stars
They say that young people won't get it, yet I am 24 and I was able to appreciate what a good piece of work "About Shmidt" is. Having lived through my grandfather's depression after his retirement, I am in a good position to understand just how true Jack Nicholson's portrayal of this man is.Men are bred in today's society to display as little emotion as possible, to be detached and be "The providers". It is less common nowadays, but it was certainly very true in Schmidt's generation and what we see through his eyes is the result of that.
Schmidt is a man without a compass, dropped in the middle of an uncaring society-- he no longer is respected for the work of decades, his daughter is out of touch with him (and has become more of a denaturalized and unaffective daughter with caprices), his wife dies, and he feels he has left nothing in the world to mark his place, that he has done nothing right or given anything precious to anyone.
This is more common than you think. This is the story of the common man at the sunset of his life.
The move is about as much of a comedy as life is-- there are comic moments, there are tragic moments, and more or less they even out at the end when we look back at them. Don't be mistaken, this isn't your Hollywood glitz of Happily Ever After and the unrealistic couples and men we have seen in the big screen... aboutt Schmidt is about the average joe, as average as you can get. After a lifetime of passionate Hollywood-esque characters under Nicholson's sleeve, some may say his performance is not engaging--- quite the contrary. Have you watched your cubicle neighbour? your mailman? That's who Schmidt's concept is-- average, non-passionate, practical, unimaginative, unaffectionate, the typical male provider who has sacrificed his life for his family and has left very little time to cultivating himself or giving his life any meaning outside of his work and his role as the leader of the family. Nicholson's portrayal is amazingly insightful, and terribly subtle. It is not easy for a superb character actor as Nicholson to take on a role where minimalism and unremarkability are the keywords for a character, yet he carries it off magically-- he becomes Schmidt, it's not Jack Nicholson as Schmidt. It's simply... about Schmidt.
The sad part is, the characters aren't as grotesquely imagined as you people have said... all you need to do to find Kathy Bate's character is take a good trip through the trailor homes near North Carolina and find your pick. She's not an 'evil' woman, or a harpy, or anything like that... she's just common, vulgar, base, with good feelings but a bad sense of direction, a fuzzy mental disposition and clearly an unfit mother. Nicholson's daughter's fiance is the typical sleaze you'll find in used car businesses or who tries to talk you into a deal that you know has feet of clay.
About Schmidt explores the pathos of its main character through his relationship to the rest of the world and other people. It is a master work where you find your neighbours, your friends, and -to those to whom it applies and who are honest with themselves- sometimes even yourself. It is life... Bittersweet, like life, but by no means unredeemable. The last few seconds of the movie carry a tremendous message, yet it occurs only in a few seconds and without any dialogue, which may be lost in our short-attention-span american audiences of today, who are accustomed to three explosions and a body count at the end of each film.
By all means, know what you're getting into when you watch this movie, but know that you are renting one of cinematography's jewels, and an undeserved underdog. Jack should have gotten an Oscar for it.
Movie Review: "It's a Wonderless Life"
Summary: 5 Stars
This film works only because of Jack Nicholson, but work it does, and well. The plot has been well summarized in other reviews, though this movie is not remotely about plot. It is really about Thoreau's thesis that "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation", and how that desperation is internalized in modern society until it consumes us from the inside and turns us into hollow husks.The genius of the film is in its choice of Nicholson to play Schmidt. Jack Nicholson is a man who has never lived life quietly. Even at his most desperate, he has not gone about it quietly. Whether playing McMurphy in Cuckoo's Nest, Bobby Dupea in Five Easy Pieces, or even the Joker in Batman, his response to life's iniquities has been a finger held high in both hands. The key to his effectiveness as Schmidt is our very knowledge of his past roles. We keep expecting him to break out of his morass and puncture the stupid people around him with one of his devastating bon mots. What we get instead is a perfectly pitched performance that is played true to character.
There is an honesty about this film that is refreshing coming as it does from the Hollywood mill. Schmidt is first shown to us as a pathetic middle manager literally counting down the seconds to his retirement. The retirement dinner speeches are carefully divided between the platitudes of his successor and the bitter but heartfelt tribute of his best friend. Later, this same best friend seems more devastated by the loss of Schmidt's wife than Schmidt, and the reason comes as a revelation in a later scene. The daughter is another character that hews closely to life. She seems bitter and remote, hardly the golden girl of her father's reminiscences and undeserving of the love he feels for her, until we see the way he tries to manipulate her after the funeral and then a confrontation before her wedding when she throws in his face his belated and ill-timed interest in her life. Every step of the way, our sympathy for this man is tempered by an understanding of the ways he has failed himself and those around him.
Schmidt grows over the course of this film, but not in the usual Hollywood fashion. He has been a quietly desperate man for so long he cannot remember otherwise, and his growth is one befitting such a man. He finds it within himself to forgive, first others, then himself. He grows from quiet desperation to quiet acceptance--perhaps all that can be expected of a man who has waited too long and wasted too much of life. And when he fails to dissuade his daughter from going through with her marriage to "this nincompoop" whom he despises, he stumbles upon his epiphany. This is where the past personas of Jack Nicholson loom before us. With the eyes of the wedding party all turned to him, with the chance to tell them what he really thinks, with us half anticipating, half bracing for a classic Nicholson barb, he stands up, looks them in the eyes, and gives his daughter the only gift he has left to give: a moment of pure joy.
"About Schmidt" is the antithesis of "It's a Wonderful Life" and Warren Schmidt is the man George Bailey would have been had he worked in the real world. George Bailey never made it out of Bedford Falls and Warren Schmidt never really makes it out of Omaha Nebraska. Both are great movies, but "About Schmidt" is the more honest, exploring the life of a man who really has made no difference in any of the ways he set out to make, but who finally discovers that he still has gifts within his power to give, and that a measure of redemption still awaits him in the end.
Clearly, this film will not appeal to everyone. View it only if you have a taste for small mercies.
Movie Review: About life...
Summary: 5 Stars
Going forward with `Jack Nicholson Friday', I'm going to review a film that brought me my FAVORITE Jack Nicholson performance. `About Schmidt' is one of those tender, genuine and sincere comedies that is so soft and subtle one may not really understand or feel the depth of its riches upon a singular viewing. I urge you to see this again and again if you must. This film is the definition of beautiful for me; a stellar example of tenderness and honesty that moves me every time I see it.
The film revolves around Warren Schmidt, a man who seems almost all too real. We are first introduced at the man's retirement party, and while so many seem to feel as though Warren as `lived his life to the full' you can tell that he doesn't agree. He is at a loss, for his life has been a failure in his own eyes. He wants to make a difference, and better late than never, so he reaches out to sponsor a Tanzanian child named Ndugu. Using this as an opportunity to vent his frustrations, Warren takes the time to write a letter detailing his concerns with his life and those who dwell within it. When Warren makes his way home from mailing this letter though, his life is turned on its head. His wife (the very one he was complaining about) has died.
At that moment (which brought with it some scarring revelations) Warren decided to really connect with himself, and on his journey to make his daughter's wedding, Warren does just that. He finds who he really is, who he's always wanted to be and who he's destined to become.
For me, this film is carried magnificently on Jack Nicholson's shoulders. I often tell my friends that this is the best Jack Nicholson performance where Jack isn't playing Jack (`The Shining' is most definitely the `Jack playing Jack' performance that trumps all others). There is no part of Warren that calls to mind anything we've ever seen Nicholson do before. He effortlessly sheds his own skin, his own persona, and becomes Warren. There is such softness and downtrodden misery in his eyes; a desperateness that is too tired to manifest itself. I love that about Nicholson here, for he really appears defeated; a quality that never really enveloped his prior performances. There is such depth to his development, truly layering Warren with identifiable and honest emotions.
Oh, and can I just add that this is probably the best use of voiceover narration in any film I've seen!
As wonderful as Nicholson was, I have to really commend the film as a whole. This is a beautiful `coming of age story' that proves that you are never too old to `come of age'. As you watch Warren start to identify himself, to really see himself for the first time (through others eyes as well as his own) you can feel the warmth that comes from understanding who you are what you need to do to become who you want to be. The script is so fluent and so sincere (and the side-plots never feel like a distraction, which is appreciated). This is all part of Warren's journey, and we are so blessed to be a part of it.
As most of you know (if you read my reviews regularly), I am an emotional guy. I do tend to cry a lot when watching movies (my wife is always ragging on me about that). This was no exception. During the final frames, when Warren is staring at the painting from Ndugu, I lost it. You can feel the swelling emotions etched on Nicholson's face and you feel everything he feels.
I love Adrian Brody's performance in `The Pianist', but there is no doubt in my mind that the Oscar should have gone to Nicholson that night!
Movie Review: Character Study Excellently Acted by Jack Nicholson
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is about what can happen when mandatory (in some companies) retirement age rolls around. The movie in the beginning is as slow as Warren Schmidt's life. The beginning deliberately drags to make the point that Warren's life, which was once well-ordered and focused around work, suddenly has no meaning. For a short period of time, it seems that Warren's life will soon be filled with travel about The United States with his wife. Then comes one of those life-altering events (as though retirement wasn't enough) that suddenly crumples your world.During this portion of the movie Warren sponsors an African boy by the name of Ndugu. Through Warren's letters to Ndugu we learn what Warren is thinking, a rather clever way of letting Warren extensively espouse his feelings without hearing his thoughts directly. The only difficulty I had with the lengthy and complex monologues was that Warren had to be smart enough to realize that Ndugu would not have the slightest idea what Warren was ranting on about; a minor point and one that needs to be overlooked to stay up with the movie.
At this point in the movie, Warren no longer has an anchor to reality, and perhaps sanity. The house becomes a total disaster. Warren has no routine. To grab onto any lifeline, Warren decides that he needs to go visit his daughter. However, his daughter is not interested in having him come that early for the wedding. Warren, already halfway to his daughter's house, decides to stay on the road, visiting old haunts. There are some poignant and funny points in this portion of the movie, along with the realization that, as we've all known, you can never go home.
Eventually Warren ends up at the house of the mother of his daughter's fiance, Roberta Hertzel, well-played by Kathy Bates. It's as though Warren has stepped into some version of hell that he only suspected existed. Roberta's front yard is filled with junk. Sirens sound at all times of the day and night. Warren has to sleep on a completely unbaffled waterbed, and gets a major crick in his neck, which his daughter then believes was planned to ruin her wedding. Of course, we have discovered during Warren's road trip that Warren wants to stop the wedding. The contrast between Roberta Hertzel and her family and Warren's life is a huge contrast that provides several funny moments and a severe reality check for Warren.
Because the best part of the movie is the end, for which you've had to patiently wait for about and hour and forty-five minutes, I'm going to stop providing details at this point. What I can tell you is that the entire movie hinges on the last few minutes of the movie, when meaning is restored to Warren's life through the tiniest of acts.
Character studies about ordinary people often are boring to those who have difficulty placing themselves into the character's position. This movie will likely appeal to guys in their 40s and older who consider their work their main focus of life. Further, those who have a great deal of empathy will readily understand Warren's position. Warren goes through more travails in a few short weeks than most people will see in any five years of their life, probably more than in any ten years. Those travails strip away the facade that Warren has built about himself through his life, and we ultimately see Warren's core; it's not a pretty sight. However, Warren can be redeemed, though you have to journey the entire length of the movie to see whether his redemption is at hand. This movie and 'As Good as It Gets' prove that Jack Nicholson is an incredible actor, one of the greatest of our time.
Movie Review: Schmidt Happens!
Summary: 5 Stars
Thatis the tagline to "About Schmidt," a film that got critical praise, but did not seem to do to well with the audiences that watched it. I loved this movie, and thought that it did a perfect way of drifting from comedy to drama throughout the entire film. Jack Nicholson was perfect in this movie, and it felt like his put in alot of work to master the facial expressions and the feelings of the main character Warren Schmidt. Kathy Bates was a comic genius and her timing was perfect as Roberta, and Dermet Mulronely had a perfect transformation from what he usually looks like, to what he looked like in this movie. As I said above, Jack Nicholson played Warren Schmidt, a sixty six year old recently retired man, who works at Woodmen of the World, or the insurence game as he calls it. Now he is at home everyday with his wife Helen, and he eventually begins to sponser a six year old boy named Ndugu Umbo. He writes to Ndugu in letters. But tradgy strikes Warren when he comes home to find Helen dead on the kitchen floor. After the funeral, he decides that he has to make the best of the rest of his time in this world. But when he finds out that Helen was having an affair years ago with his best friend Ray, Warren decides to go to Denver to see his daughter in the RV that he and Helen bought months earlier. His daughter Jeanie is getting married to that of Randell Hertz, a waterbed salesmen, who Warren feels is not right for his daughter. Warren and Jeanie planned that he would come up two or three days before the wedding, but Warren decides to come much earlier. Janie tells him to go home, so Warren decides to go on a trip to remember his past. When he finally makes it to Denver he meets Randell's mother Roberta, and her ex-husband and his wife Larry and Sandra. Warren is not happy with his new family and makes it his mission to convince Jeanie that she is getting ready to marry the wrong man, a point that adds more problems to their already tenuous relationship.
I'll first discuss the letters that Warren writes to Ndugu. When Warren is writing the letters to him you'll hear him say Dear, Ndugu. When I saw this in the theatre, everybody started to laugh at that line. They laughed because you knew that whenever he was writing to Ndugu he was going to pour out all of his feeling. His letters to Ndugu allow him to express his feelings to somebody that he knows is not going to judge him or even respond with a clever remark. It is a six year old boy who does not speak English. Warren could tell him anything, and you could relate to his problems because everybody has gone through some of the problems that Warren goes through during this film.
The actress who played Jeanie, Hope Davis, was doing her job just fine. She was supposed to be a character that you don't like, and the only thing that I thought about during the movie was that I didn't like her. That is the sign of a great actress. I want to see her preformance in "American Splendor" to compare. Nothing really happens in "About Schmidt." I'm guessing that that is the reason that alot of peopel found it boring. It had useless infomation, but it was was nice to hear everything. "About Schmidt" was a very interesting character study. But alot of people who watch movies have to have instant storylines. This was a slow movie, I agree. But it worked all the way untill the ending.
ENJOY!
Rated R for some language and brief nudity.