As Good As It Gets
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Movie Reviews of As Good As It Gets
Movie Review: One of the '90s most beautiful comedies
Summary: 5 Stars
Another reviewer comments that the events in this film conspire to make Jack Nicholson (or rather Melvyn Udall) a human being. On the contrary, this is a film where the central character, an obsessive-compulsive bigot, is human from the start: We just don't realize it. A key moment in the film is when Simon, Melvin's gay neighbour (Greg Kinnear), is telling the young male prostitute, Vincent (Skeet Ulrich), about his art, and comments that he likes to watch people because sometimes, when you look at someone long enough, "you see their humanity." At that point Vincent is momentarily enabled to see something beyond the seedy world of male prostitution; at the same time Simon gives us the interpretive key to the whole movie. It is a film about three very different people who discover their common humanity.Melvin is a hateful and insensitive recluse with a debilitating mental disorder; Carol (Helen Hunt), a Manhattan waitress struggling with her son's chronic illness and finding her identity swallowed up in the process; Simon, a gay artist who loses everything when he is attacked and robbed in his own home. One by one they must learn to see the humanity in each other and, as importantly, in themselves ("Where'd I go?" asks Simon as he looks at the reflection of his battered face in the mirror). We, too, must learn to see the human being underneath the spiteful and vicious (if somewhat the "loveable rogue") in Melvin.
The theme is developed sensitively and beautifully throughout the course of the film (perhaps only slightly overlong at more than two hours), with help coming from a fourth character, Verdelle, a dog, whose pivotal role in the narrative is easily overlooked (standing in the same cinematic tradition as Toto of "The Wizard of Oz"). By the end of the film, we are aware that the big issues in the character's lives are still to be totally overcome, but the process of resolution has begun as it should, with the characters each recognizing the dignity and worth of the others (and themselves).
James L. Brook's delicate direction carefully avoids excessive sentimentalism and saccharine sweetness (though admittedly, it teeters perilously close to the edge at times), and results in one of the most charming and profound comedies of recent years.
Movie Review: One of Jack Nicholson's Greatest Performances
Summary: 5 Stars
This is essentially a good movie that is graced by an absolutely stellar performance by one of America's great film actors. Jack Nicholson has had several performances as memorable as this one, but he has never had one that was appreciably better. As the child of an intensely obsessive-compulsive father, his performance especially hit home with me (as I was watching this movie with my daughter, I asked her, "Does Jack Nicholson remind you of anyone?" and she immediately shouted, "Grandpa!--out of the mouth of babes). The brilliant thing about this movie is that it doesn't just stop with a character with a serious social-psychological problem, but deals with his attempts to break out of his mental prison to engage in normal relationships. Partly this is done through his unexpected relationship with a neighbor's small dog. Partly this is achieved by what is initially a selfish concern with the difficulties of a waitress with a son with serious health problems (selfish because her absence from the restaurant to deal with her son's health problems upsets his dining routine; he would rather pay out money to help her son than have her miss taking his order for his meal). Gradually, however, he develops a concern for the waitress (Helen Hunt) not merely as the woman who takes his orders, but as a human being. Eventually, in his own highly limited way, he sorta, kinda falls in love, to a degree that he is able to utter one of the most romantic lines I have heard in a film: "You make me wish I was a better man." He isn't a better man; he isn't even an especially desirable match. But she is able to accept his affection, with all his limitations as a person. It isn't the Disney version, but it is all rather lovely.
The cast is by and large excellent. Both Nicholson and Helen Hunt won Oscars for their performances. I didn't care for Cuba Gooding Jr.'s rather campy gay character, though I suspect the problem was more in the way his part was written than in his performance. I thought Greg Kinnear was OK as a gay artist and neighbor to Nicholson (in addition to being the owner of the dog), but like Gooding, I could never really accept him as being gay. But the picture is carried by two superb performances by Nicholson and Hunt.
Movie Review: THE TITLE SAYS IT ALL
Summary: 5 Stars
It wasn't until I saw Jack Nicholson in A FEW GOOD MEN that I realized I had been unfair to the actor for many years. Never one of my favorites, I always felt Nicholson just kept playing the same roles over and over. But in his awesome performance in A FEW GOOD MEN, I finally saw what the critics and Oscar voters had already seen: the man is an incredibly gifted actor. In AS GOOD AS IT GETS, for which he won a Best Actor award, Nicholson parlays all of his usual tics and gestures into a superb portrait of an obsessive-compulsive man afraid of living life, and most definitely afraid of becoming involved with other people. He is overtly nasty and one would never believe there was a real human being underneath all that venom. However, once he "babysits" his neighbors precious pooch, we see a side of Melvin that lets us know there IS a real person beneat that cynically oppressive facade. It's to Nicholson's credit that as he goes through the movie making mistake after mistake, we really hope he gets the girl in the end. Helen Hunt in her Oscar winning performance is marvelous; she exudes an everyday commonality and a warmth rare in many of our actresses today. While it's hard to believe she and Nicholson would ever hook up, Hunt's performance is so astutely controlled, we forget she's acting. And Greg Kinnear (so good in Nurse Betty) is a revelation as the homosexual neighbor, Simon. While not totally eschewing the stereotypical effeminance of homsexuality, Kinner displays a leading man swagger with the vulnerability of a lifestyle that can be challenging to say the least. Kinnear was nominated for a supporting actor award, and he is definitely worthy of that nomination in this superbly nuanced performance. Ditto to the marvelous Shirley Knight who plays Hunt's mother; while not on screen a great deal, Knight's relationship with her daughter is heartwarming and convincing. Even Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. redeems himself for Snow Dogs in a showy role as Kinnear's friend. Director James L. Brooks shows a keen sense of knowing how to get the best from his actors, and AS GOOD AS IT GETS is a wonderful film to be enjoyed by all those who have been in love and didn't know it!Movie Review: Time for another viewing?
Summary: 5 Stars
Some films need seeing more than once to fully appreciate them... and here's one. First time through the superb black comedy of this story of Melvin Udall - "a truly awful human being" - dominates your reactions. His incredible rudeness to everyone around him is unexpected, shocking and very, very funny and the tension & laughs it generates grab your immediate and undivided attention but mean you miss a lot on the way.
Second time through the sheer excellence of the acting really hits home. Nicholson's interpretation of Udall's incredibly complex character is superb while Helen Hunt's portrayal of a desperately lonely waitress who's inextricably drawn to him and Greg Kinnear's portrayal of a gay artist struggling to come to terms with his sexuality and Udall's incessant verbal abuse are believable and beautifully touching. And then there's the gay artist's dog... putting in an Oscar level tour de force in the "Best Supporting Canine" section, plus excellent cameo performances from just about everyone else involved. Still very funny but, devoid of the shock of it all, you've got time to fully appreciate the quality of what's on offer and how the characters combine to produce a genuinely moving, multi-layered story about people's need for love and affection.
And then... well there's more to come because as you go back and explore it once again you'll still be laughing - which is some feat for any comedy film - but you may also start to realise that things are not quite as straightforward as you thought. Udall gets the girl he wants but at no time during their relationship does he do anything that isn't based on total self-interest - in fact the only genuine tenderness he shows is towards the dog and, in the end, to the gay artist, leaving you wondering whether in addition to being a suppressed dog lover he may also be a suppressed gay, or indeed whether self interest isn't such a bad thing if it also gives other people what they want, or... maybe not? One thing's for certain: it's getting much deeper, more complex and more thought-provoking than it all seemed to be. Time for another viewing?
Movie Review: I'm speachless
Summary: 5 Stars
And that my friends is a rarity. I'm new to the 'As Good as it Gets' fanclub sort-a-speak since I, for the first time, saw it last night despite the fact that my wife HATES the movie and was pissed I rented it. I have always been a fan of Jack Nicholson for he has been on top of his game for YEARS and doesn't show any sign of letting up anytime soon (I mean, he's won 3 oscars and has been nominated 12 times). I've also always enjoyed Hunt and Kinnear so it's a shoe-in for me to enjoy this film right? I just for some reason have never had the desire to see it, and then there I was walking through the local blockbuster thinking, you know what, I'll just go for it, and I'm so glad I did. Right off the bat Nicholson is at his best playing the grumpy old man, but he always adds just the right amount of class and confidence to lift him from Walter Matthau status and place him in the Michael Caine league. Nicholson plays Melvin, an obsesive compulsive racist bigot sexist grump of a man who is hated by everyone and very well may like it that way. He lives in the same apartment complex as Simon (Kinnear) a gay painter who is the subject of Melvin's vented anger (which is displayed by his constant verbal battery of poor Simon and the abuse he inflicts of Simon's dog) but after Simon is beaten and injured Melvin is pusuaded (a bit forcfully) to take care of Simon's dog. Unexpectedly Melvin forms an attachment to the dog and is somehow changed by his experience and moved to be a nicer, better person. He starts by helping a local waitress Carol (Hunt) who may just be the only person who tolerates him. Carol & Melvin & Simon throughout the remander of the film form a bond that is both unexpected and remarkably beautiful. Helen Hunt is wonderful in this film, as is Kinnear, but it's Nicholson's show and there isn't a better man for the show. I have never watched a performance that made me more anxious then watching Nicholson say the WRONG thing everytime, but as Carol realizes, he has his moments, and those moments are about as good as it gets.