About Schmidt
|
List Price: Our Price: $1.89 You Save: $4.08 (68%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of About Schmidt
Movie Review: Don't let the trailer fool you...
Summary: 5 Stars
into thinking that "About Schmidt" is merely a comedy. Granted, there are plenty of laughs sprinkled liberally throughout this movie. You can laugh yourself silly just by looking at Dermot Mulroney (and his startling hairdo), cast against type, as the son-in-law to be that every father would try to get out of his little girl's life..what a loser!
There is only one thing funnier than Nicholson trying to get comfortable going to be on a waterbed without the baffles, and that's watching him wake up after a night of "sleep" on the damn bed. There are so many moments of not only wry humor, but physical comedy from Nicholson, moments that stop just short of being slapstick. And yet, we are utterly invested in Nicholson as a dour retired actuary with a simmering layer of rage and disappointment in his life, just below the surface.
<b>About Schmidt is a tour de force for Nicholson, and even the incredible Daniel Day Lewis should fall short of the Oscar in comparison to JN in this complex role. Nicholson is alone on film for much of the movie, in his genteel, out of style residence, or on the open blank screen that is the Midwestern highway. It is a "coming of age" film for a 66 year old man, who is facing the realities of his ordinary life for perhaps the first time. Prior to this, he always had his job to sustain him. Not for one moment can you pity Nicholson (cast as Warren Schmidt), because you know of his secret life....
That's the one where he is the sponsor and "foster father" of Ngudu, a six year old African Child. Schmidt's letters to this child are the only place where he does not suppress his anger and sense of helplessness at the way his life turned out.
And it is this sense of helplessness, almost a wistfulness, that the film is truly about. Warren has to gulp back his distaste for his daughter's (Hope Davis) upcoming marriage. If she goes through with it, will she have even less of a life than he did? Davis gives us a skilled picture of the sense of exasperation that most adult children have with their parents.
Nicholson is the most skilled actor of his generation. Argue Anthony Hopkins and Sean Connery if you will - Nicholson is blessed with a face that can convey whatever he wishes it to. He's willing to act in farce and physical comedy as well as drama and action, and these types of comedy have given us some of the finest performances of his career.
He's not alone here; in addition to fine work by Mulroney and Davis, he's joined by character actors Kathy Bates and the delightful Howard Hesseman. They are outstanding and believable as "fringe" baby boomers.
As for the film quality - the editing sometimes misses its mark, but it is a gem, although probably too sad and depressing for some. Small touches of irony revolve around things like Schmidt's dead wife, Helen, who was a terrific housewife, but even she had folded baskets of laundry scattered throughout the various rooms of the house. How many of us do not?
There's a ton of symbolism in the film as well - none better than the feature near film's end on the historical bridge monument at Kearney, Nebraska. It helps Schmidt put all of our comfortable lives in perspective - when we compare our difficulties with those of the pioneers before us.
There aren't enough words to convey how fine a movie is "About Schmidt". You will walk away much richer than when you entered the theater.
Movie Review: Dear Ndugu
Summary: 5 Stars
Warren Schmidt has been married to the same woman for 42 years, and has worked at Woodmen Insurance Company, in the Actuarial department, for nearly as long. The movie opens at the end of Schmidt's last day at work, before entering into the oblivion of retirement. We can tell by his body language and the look on his face that Warren is not a happy man. "About Schmidt" takes us on the quirky, sad, and funny journey of this man's new-found life, and manages to bring to the forefront a cast of unique, individual characters. The movie feels 'real', in a way that I haven't come across in cinema for a very long time.Jack Nicholson stars as Warren Schmidt, a man who, now that he has retired, has nothing to do. He isn't a terribly deep individual, and so there isn't a lot for him to take an interest in. He appears to have no hobbies, no passions. But he is not an empty man. One day, Schmidt sees a commercial which beckons him to become a sponsor for a poor, mal-nourished African child. He answers the commercial's call, and soon starts sending monthly checks to his sponsor child, Ndugu. We get to see a picture of sweet, little Ndugu, and Schmidt decides to start sending the youth regular letters, discussing the events currently going on in his life. This allows for a nice, connective narration for the film, and it is used to good effect.
Schmidt's wife had bought an Adventurer for the two of them to travel the country in during their retiring years. Unfortunately, Mrs. Schmidt passes away, and Warren is left to his own devices. We see the stages of grief pass through the widower, and Nicholson excels with his portrayal of the troubled, lonely man. Eventually, Schmidt decides to take the Adventurer out by himself, and then the film becomes somewhat of a road movie. He meets some very interesting people along his journey, and visits some very real locales across the American midwest. The big event looming in Schmidt's life is the wedding of his daughter to a man that he can't stand, but seems unable to convince his daughter not to marry. The groom's family is a hoot. You'll have to see them to believe them.
Everything comes together in this movie. Nicholson implodes exquisitely as Schmidt, and is both humorous and sympathetic to watch. June Squibb, as Schmidt's wife, is so very sweet. Though she isn't in the film much, her character leaves a lasting memory. I loved Dermut Mulroney as Schmidt's future son-in-law, Randall . He made that character his own. Randall's a sweet guy, but would be terrifying to any woman's father that he met. And we can't forget Kathy Bates. She is not in the movie much, either, but also leaves a marked imprint upon the film. Be prepared to see her dis-robed, however. It is quite... memorable.
"About Schmidt" is a near-perfect film. Understand that it is drama *and* a comedy. There are very rarely guffaw-inducing moments, but there are quite a few instances that will keep you chuckling to no end. This is one of the hardest kind of movies to do. To balance humor and solemnity is not an easy task, and all involved pull it off wonderfully. Alexander Payne deserves recognition for his screenplay, and also for his direction of the film. All of the actors make their characters seem quite real. We feel for them, and laugh along with them.
And don't forget little Ndugu. We know that he, just like us, will always care about Schmidt.
Movie Review: Nicholson once again proves he can do no wrong...
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been a huge fan of Jack Nicholson for a while now and after watching `About Schmidt' I'm tempted to right the role of Warren Schmidt off as his greatest creation to date. Laced with restrained humor and everyman humanity, Warren Schmidt come across as the guy everyone knows, the man everyone loves and the one who's always been taken for granted. It's funny to me that while this movie progressed to the end where Warren is supposed to learn this big life lesson I couldn't help but rationalize and or relate to him, feeling that everyone around him was actually in need of the life lesson he was so inevitably searching for himself.
Warren is a man who feels as though he's accomplished nothing with his life. You first get this feeling while he's being saluted at his retirement party. He sits with this faux smile while his supposed best friend rants on and on about knowing you've lived your life to make a difference, and in Warren's eyes you can see he feels he's failed. It's soon after this that Warren decides to try and make a difference, and he does this by sponsoring a Tanzanian child named Ndugu. Through his letters to Ndugu, Warren is able to finally vent about everything he hates in his life, from his retirement to his wife to his daughter Jeannie's (Hope Davis) decision to marry a complete idiot by the name of Randall Hertzal (Dermot Mulroney in a priceless role). It's when Warren returns home from mailing Ndugu's first letter that his life is forever changed.
Warren returns to find his wife Helen (June Squibb) dead on the floor. This one moment catapults Warren into a journey to find meaning in himself and in his life. He sets off to make his daughters wedding in the motor home he purchased at request of his late wife. On the way he sees many different things and meets many different people, some of which include the Rusk's (Harry Groener and Connie Ray in a great cameo scene) but in the end it's himself who he finds. When he reaches his daughter a few days before the wedding he has trouble connecting with his new family and this causes him to clash almost ferociously with his daughter. Warren soon realizes that he hasn't been the easiest man to love and this has had lasting effects on his relationships with those closest to him. In the end Warren is able to make peace, not only with those in his life but, more importantly, with himself.
During the final frames, as Warren reads a letter back from Ndugu I found myself crying with Warren. This film has had such a lasting impression on me, an impression I didn't expect to have when I first sat down to watch. Thanks in large part to Nicholson, but also to smaller roles by Kathy Bates (whose priceless as Randall's crazy mother Roberta) and of course Mulroney, `About Schmidt' has instantly become one of my favorite Nicholson films to date, and maybe even one of my favorite films, period. Like with `Sideways', Alexander Payne as infused enough humor, dry and outlandish, drama and sentimentality into this script to constitute this an all around well rounded and complete film. `About Schmidt' is well deserving of all it's praise and should occupy a spot in any DVD collection. Nicholson has once again proven to me why I love him so much.
Movie Review: One of the best movies of all time
Summary: 5 Stars
"About Schmidt" is, simply put, a milestone in American cinema. Coming off "Election," which was quite possibly the funniest movie of all time, director Alexander Payne delivered another classic here, but one of a different stripe. With Jack Nicholson delivering a performance that's somehow both low-key and passionate, this character study relentlessly examines the darker side of human existence, plumbing the depths of despair and hopelessness. However, the central character isn't a serial killer, a sex offender, or some similar paragon of depravity. Instead, he's a quiet, 66-year-old newly retired actuary from Nebraska named Warren Schmidt. That's what really makes this movie so depressing: someday, maybe not too far off, any of us could wind up like this movie's antihero, retired, widowed, and feeling useless. Alexander Payne's portrait of Midwestern suburban life is almost unrelentingly bleak, following its main character around and focusing on all the tiny indignities that steadily pile up on him. The relentlessly self-analytical Warren has examined his life in search of some higher purpose, and he's come up lacking. Looking back he can see only missed opportunities and pointless toil, and looking ahead he only glimpses loneliness and impending death. He has only two things left that give his life any semblance of meaning: his attempts to prevent his beloved daughter from marrying a mulleted, fu-manchued waterbed salesman named Randall; and Ndugu, the Tanzanian orphan whom he starts supporting financially early in the movie. Warren's letters to Ndugu serve as a perfect framing device, providing a window to the internal conflicts that roil beneath his quiet exterior.
Since the monstrous shadow of "Election" looms over this movie for its entire two hours, comparisons are all but inevitable, and I might as well make mine now. Both movies are allegorical tales set in white-bread Nebraska locales, but "Election" is a screwball comedy anchored by a serious plot, while "About Schmidt" is a dark tale of quiet desparation and self-reflection with some offbeat humor mixed in. It's a good thing there are some laughs here too, or I might have wound up trying to hang myself with my belt after I first saw the movie. Most of the humor to be found come from Dermot Mulroney's clueless Randall and, of course, Kathy Bates as Randall's mildly deranged motormouth of a mother. Bates practically steals the show during her limited screen time, as her character's sincerity, her brutal honesty, and above all her tendency to reveal excessive details provides a much-needed counterpoint to Nicholson's reserve and bitterness.
While I'll be the first to admit that "About Schmidt" isn't an easy movie to watch, it's not supposed to be. What makes this such a rewarding movie is the challenge of watching such a thoroughly unremarkable man for two hours, following along with his path through despair, self-discovery, and ultimately a measure of redemption. Sure, Warren Schmidt's just a retired geezer from Nebraska, but his sufferings are more universal than they may appear at first. Warren's experiences make for such fascinating viewing precisely because there are so many people like him out there.
Movie Review: what?!
Summary: 5 Stars
what is wrong with these reviewers? one person says that it's funny, the next person says that it's depressing. one of the top reviewers said that it's a film meant only for jack nicholson fans, yet i couldn't disagree any more.my guess is this. the family goes to blockbuster to rent a movie, and they see "about schmidt." though the movie is found in the drama section, the view of the majority is that it's another one of the infamous "crazy person" nicholson roles, making for a "blisteringly funny" comedy .. or at least a good show. then, what do you know? the movie turns out to be a bummer. however, it's only because the expectation was not met.
this is not a film for jack nicholson fans. one reviewer made this comment: "By far the tiredest, lamest movie I have ever seen. I've never been Jack's biggest fan, but this is sooooooo bad. I can't believe he did this. Go get Anger Management instead." see what i am saying?! this reviewer wanted the crazy, psycho, FUNNY jack nicholson. when he or she met a retired, secluded, and very off base man trying to find meaning in life, they gave up on the film. it's obvious that they wanted something more along the lines of adam sandler's work (with the exception of punch-drunk love) than a serious film.
now, on to other things. one reviewer stated that jack nicholson ends up playing the same role over and over again, the (and i quote) "crusty curmudgeon with a heart of gold." how off target could one be? one gets the feeling in this movie that jack is heartless - he has little passion for his marriage, he wants to keep his own daughter from marrying, and the only thing he seems to do right in the entire movie is send money to a starving kid in a third world country. sounds like a pure heart of gold to me... not.really.
so, if you've made it this far in my review, you may be asking yourself what one is to make of this movie, and i will gladly tell you.
depressing, yes. long-winded, most definitely. however, that's not why i'm giving this movie 5 stars. if one can look past their short attention span and stick with the movie, one will find that this movie is extremely rewarding. the message of the film was one of... don't let the smallest things go unnoticed in your life, for even they hold rewards. at the very end of the movie, nicholson finds himself face to face with the "painting" of two people holding hands. my interpretation of this is that nicholson is a rich man if only for the fact that he touched someone who was in need. walking away from this movie, i am keeping with me the thought that every little detail of our sometimes miserable life is extremely important.
this movie almost got a 4 star rating for its drawn-out length and for the fact that it's very depressing if not viewed with an attentive spirit. however, i gave this movie 5 stars because it has left me with a desire to make more of myself as a human being. through the almost destructible solemnity of this film, i came out with a greater appreciation and understanding for every single thing that i do. and that is what filmmaking is truly about.