My god has Jack Nicholson gotten old. I know there had to be a lot of make-up work done to make him look that old, but still the man is 65 years old now. Of course he still is one of the best actors around, as demonstrated by his collection of Oscars.

As to the movie, Jack (last seen in The Pledge) plays insurance man Warren Schmidt. Warren lives a quite life in Omaha, Nebraska with his wife of 42 years, Helen (June Squibb, Meet Joe Black). At the beginning of the film Warren retires from Woodmen of the World Insurance Company to relax and enjoy the remaining years of his life. Here is where we begin to see what a sad life Warren has lived, and not sad as in tragic, but sad as in that he hasn’t done anything and basically hates his own life. Shortly after retirement Warren decides to sponsor an orphan from Africa through one of those organizations that have those infomercials on TV. Once he receives his welcome kit, Warren begins to write letters to young Ndugu Umbo in Tanzania, in what turn out to be more akin to therapy sessions for Warren than actual correspondence. Then Helen dies leaving Warren alone in his house without any close family and a nice new motor home with no one to travel with. Warren’s only remaining family is his daughter Jeannie (Hope Davis, Hearts in Atlantis) who lives in Denver and is engaged to marry some waterbed salesman, Randall (Dermot Mulroney, My Best Friend's Wedding), whom Warren despises. So with nobody home and nothing to do, what does Warren decide to do? Of course, live like a pig in total freedom eating whatever the hell he wants while peeing however and wherever he wants to (you’ll get a better picture once you see the film). Needless to say, Warren is having an end-of-life crisis as he discovers things about people and himself that he never knew while trying to adjust to a new life without any formal structure. This eventually leads to Warren’s road trip to Denver to attend his daughter’s wedding, which turns into his own private Odyssey through Nebraska and his past. On this journey we get the best description of what Warren is, a sad, sad man. Finally, Warren gets to Denver intent on stopping the marriage, where he meets who will be his daughter’s in-laws, Roberta (Kathy Bates, Dragonfly) and Larry Hertzel (Howard Hesseman, from WRKP in Cincinnati and Head of the Class fame). Unfortunately for all, Warren has to see Roberta naked, which luckily for everyone he quickly exits the hot tub and the nakedness ends. So the only thing left to discover is whether Warren will still try to stop the wedding and ruin his daughter’s life in what psychologically must be an attempt to make the people around him just as miserable as himself, or will he finally become the bigger man?

I must give accolades to the writers of this film who took ordinary, mundane tasks in life and turned them into something more than what they were, and often turned those ordinary things into humorous moments. Louis Begley must get most of the credit for writing his novel, but some credit probably goes to Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor who wrote the screenplay. Payne also directs. Some others in the film are Len Cariou, Connie Ray, Chris Huse, Matt Winston (AI), Cheryl Hamada, and Mark Venhuizen.

About Schmidt is a good movie. The dreary shots of Warren’s surroundings help to set the tone for the picture, and the music is perfect for the film. Nicholson does a superb job as Warren and should get another Academy Award nomination for his perfect portrayal. The thing is, the movie is rather sad and depressing, while not funny enough to be a true comedy. I know not all films can have happy endings, but man is the film depressing. Taking everything into account, I give About Schmidt eight couches. So as I said, a good movie, just not a great one.

Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:47:55 AM

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