About Schmidt

Rating:
Summary: About Schmidt
Review: You either love or hate Jack Nicholson. About Schmidt is about a man near the end of a long conventional life. Married for 42 years, retiring as an executive from a company he's been with forever. His only daughter getting married. And all the wheels are falling off. Like most American males, Schmidt IS what his job declares him to be. After retirement he finds he isn't needed - despite the flowery retirement speeches on his value and contribution. His wife dies suddenly. He is alone in the big house he and his wife occupied during the pursuit of the American dream.
Schmidt decides to drive his Winnebago to see his daughter for her marriage. He is searching for someone, anyone to acknowledge that he is needed.
Anyone going through major life changes - what used to be called "the mid-life crazies" - should be able to identify with Schmidt.
As for entertainment value of the movie, you'll either love or hate "About Schmidt". Even though I can readily identify with the problems and dilemmas presented, I didn't feel drawn to Nicholson's performance.
The comparison that come to mind (for me anyway) aren't from Nicholson's famed characters in "A Few Good Men" - "The Truth! You can't handle the truth" or "Here's Johnny" in the "The Shining" but his portrayal of Randall McMurphy in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Unfortunately the Scmidt portrayal is only a bit more exciting than Nicholson's performance AFTER the lobotomy in Cuckoo.
I've been getting alot of "unhelpful" votes lately, if rating a product as a poor one is unhelpful, you may be missing the point of reviews in general.

John Row

Rating:
Summary: Nicholson's greatest role in years.
Review: About Schmidt successfully examines the feelings of loneliness and dissatisfaction in life that many senior citizens feel at the twilight of their lives, all while providing plenty of humor amid the bleak atmosphere.

Jack Nicholson plays William Schmidt, a recent retiree who loses his wife and feels that he didn't make much of a difference during his life. The film is a wonderful balance of humor and sadness, as Schmidt soon departs on a road trip on his way to his daughter's wedding in Denver. His search for a meaning in life takes him to new and old places until he finally arrives at the home of his daughter's future in-laws.

Through gloomy overcast skies, deserted roads and plenty of silent moments, the film perfectly conveys what it feels like to be old and alone. But plenty of humorous moments manage to lift the viewer out of this despairing world and lighten the otherwise heavy atmosphere. It is, after all, a comedy, but one that is often laugh-out-loud funny while almost unbearably depressing. The combination somehow works wonders together. Helping the film flow is a series of letters Schmidt writes to Ndugo, a third-world child he sponsors in a feed the hungry program. It is through him that Schmidt most honestly shares his feelings and opens up to.

But what drives this character film along is definitely Nicholson's portrayal of Schmidt. Gone are any of his over-the-top performances, here is plays a lonely old man so convincingly you can't help but wonder if Nicholson is emotionally well in real life. It's one of his best roles in his career, and definitely the best in recent memory. His Golden Globe win here was well deserved. Also Kathy Bates in a supporting role as his daughter's mother-in-law, is fantastic. She is such a fun character against Schmidt's bleakness.

The film does suffer, however, from too long of a period prior to Schmidt's road trip. It begins to drag a bit before he finally jumps into his motor home and begins his trek. Also, though he has his share of adventures along the way, I would have liked to have seen a few more big moments on the road. His trip isn't quite as eventful as I believed it would be.

About Schmidt, though, is still a wonderful movie that delves deep into the despair of growing old. Director Alexander Payne, who also helmed the film Election, shows again that he has some great talent. Though About Schmidt may not be as rewatchable as Election, due to is saddening and gloomy quality, it is no less of a great movie, and perhaps cinematically is even better. Definitely recommended, especially for Nicholson's award winning portrayal.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Buy, But Worth a Rental
Review: Jack Nicholson plays a retired insurance actuary living a somewhat "everyday" life. He's married to a wife he doesn't recognize, mostly because she's not young any longer, and has a daughter in another state about to marry a waterbed salesmen. He doesn't think the man his daughter is about to marry is "up to par" with her. When his wife dies and he is suddenly left alone and facing what it means to be just that - alone, he goes on a long road-trip in his RV. It is ironic that a film about such a boring topic could be played out so interestingly. It was watchable, and Nicholson perhaps helps in that arena.

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Summary: A tear-jerking film.
Review: I was very much moved after watching this movie. There are some comical moments in the film, but overall it is pretty sad. The image of retired people is that they have plenty of time in hand and they can get to do whatever they want. The movie showed otherwise, as Schmidt failed to accept the truth that he had been replaced by a much younger successor. He also grew tired of his habitual relationship with his wife, but when she left him, he had missed her and realized that he should have cherished what she had done for him. It is really depressing that we usually do not know to treasure something after we have lost it.

Sometimes when the elderly look back on their lives, they do not know what they are worth. As lots of things have been done and there are no other alternatives, it is very difficult to adopt self-acknowledgement in an old age. The movie vividly portrayed the loss when Schmidt took a trip before his daughter's wedding. His journey to self-discovery is colorful but sad.

Schmidt was forced to grant his daughter's marriage with a man he held much contempt. My mother told me that it is extremely painful when parents find their children doing something absolutely wrong for they have brought the children up and have really devoted themselves in ensuring their safety and happiness. But when the children have grown up, few of them appreciate their parent's dedication or take them into consideration.

Above all, I have learned a lot from watching this movie. Nicholson's acting was amazing! This is a film for everybody.

Rating:
Summary: A different Jack Nicholson
Review: About Schmidt stars Jack Nicholson as Warren Schmidt, a man who recently retired and is trying to figure out things about his life. He struggles to become adjusted but after a traumatic incident he decides to go on a road trip in his new deluxe RV, the Adventurer. Eventually on his trip he arrives in Denver to attend his daughter's wedding. This is a pretty good movie with an excellent cast. Some of the best moments involve Nicholson writing letters to a Tanzanian boy, Ndugu, who he sponsors and sends a check every month. There are scenes that are hysterical and those that make you want to cry.

Jack Nicholson is great as recent retiree, Warren Schmidt. He does a perfect job of showing all sides of the man especially the crazy outbursts he has occasionally. I believe he deserved the Oscar although Adrien Brody was very deserving. Kathy Bates stars as Roberta, the mother of the man Warren's daughter is marrying. She is eccentric in everyway, a kind of hippie stuck in a different generation. Hope Davis plays Jeanie, Warren's daughter, very well while Dermot Mulroney stars as Randall, the groom. The movie tries to portray him as a slimebag, but I actually liked his character. This is a very good movie that does have a message even though several reviewers don't think so. Warren asks himself," What difference have I made in other people's lives?" The ending is perfect for the movie. Also, this movie does not think so highly of Midwesterners, but I do not think the producer set out to make a film that knocks midwesterners, it just happened that way. The DVD is well worth the buy with widescreen presentation, several trailer, mini-documentaries on Omaha, and deleted scenes, several of which are very funny. To see a different Jack Nicholson than what you usually see, check out About Schmidt.

Rating:
Summary: Saved By Jack and Kathy
Review: Anything that stars Jack Nicholson and features a bravura comic turn by Kathy Bates can't be all bad, and such is the case with "About Schmidt," which otherwise deals with a tired and hackneyed plot line.

Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, who, as the film opens, is forced into retirement at age 66 at the insurance company for which he has been an executive for lo these many years. Particularly galling to Warren is his replacement, a smarmily confident young man whse only asset, it seems, is his youth.

Schmidt goes into the predictable post-retirement slump (put "All My Sons" out of your mind!), which is greatly exacerbated by the upcoming wedding of his beloved only daughter (and only child) to an idiot water-bed salesman. As Warren's depresssion deepens, his wife of 42 years dies suddenly and unexpectedly, and now we get to explore widow(er)hood as well as retirement.

What saves the movie, as mentioned above, is Jack Nicholson's truly sensitive portrayal of the anguished and depressed Schmidt. He plays it with a large dollop of humor mixed in with the pathos, thus saving the movie from parody. As his character motors in an impossibly large Winnebago from Kansas to Denver, where his daughter's wedding is scheduled to take place, his has a number of improbable adventures that add to his despair.

Once in Denver, he meets the groom's mother (Kathy Bates), who does a star turn as an over-the-top Colorado hippie who is still very much 16 in her mind. Bates deserves kudos for daring to bare it all (however briefly) in a hot-tub scene that, while it has the viewer roaring with laughter, is still sensitive and sad.

The best part of the DVD, in my opinion, is the look at the deleted scenes. The director's comments are done in writing, almost in textbook form, before each scene, and for this viewer, it was almost like a course in film editing. I like to agree or disagree with the cuts from my armchair, and in this case, I agreed.

Watch it for Jack and Kathy, both at their acting peaks. It's worth it.

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Summary: Wonderful Surprise
Review: Since other reviews have told the plot, I'm not going to bother...I'm not sure what I was expecting when I sat down to see this movie, but I know I didn't expect it to be quite so good.

I had recently lost my father and this movie seemed to hit all the darkly humorous points of losing someone close to you, that most would regard as taboo. At this point in my life, I definitely related, understood, and had seen first-hand some of the outrageous and necessary reactions that come from death (and retirement).

Kathy Bates, as always, was phenomenal. Jack Nicholson, great. Dermott Mulroney was grotesquely funny.

It's hard to say what exactly makes this movie so wonderful. It's not necessarily a movie based on what is physically going on, but more on emotional reactions and psychological evolution.

Rating:
Summary: A funny and wonderfully acted film
Review: Warren Schmidt is a just-retired insurance acutary in Omaha, Nebraska. Getting ready to settle into retirement, he decides to sponsor a foster child in Africa for 72¢ a day and in the first letter to this child -- Ndugu -- he begins spilling his frustrations about his wife, his estranged daughter, the boyfriend he doesn't like, his former job.

When his wife suddenly dies, Warren takes their recently-bought motorhome on a roadtrip to Denver for his daughter's wedding. Through a series of events and the first meeting with the boyfriend's eclectic family, he comes to terms with his wife's death and his own place in life, and relates most of this journey in comical letters to Ndugu.

This is touching and funny movie with great performances by Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates, a smart script and great direction. The extras on the DVD are okay and worth watching. Overall, a job well-done.

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Summary: Mainly For Jack Nicholson Fans - A Drama With Funny Moments
Review: This movie adaptation of Louis Begley's book ABOUT SCHMIDT tranforms a white shoe upper class New York lawyer dealing with his family problems and retirement ennui into an undistinguished actuary from Omaha who also has to find a life for himself after retirement. Except for the last names, daughters who are marrying men who their fathers dislike, and the general existential unease of the subjects, the movie and book have almost nothing in common. Director Alexander Payne (who cowrote the screenplay with Jim Taylor), has chosen to use his talent, the star power of Jack Nicholson, and the recognition provided by a successful novel to pursue an apparent agenda about the lack of meaning of life for an ordinary businessman from the Midwest.

Jack Nicholson is Warren Schmidt, whom we meet on the day of his retirement from his actuarial career. The banality of his farewell dinner drives Warren to a hearby bar, and in the following days his life settles into a boring routine interrupted by his aggravation with the habits of his wife Helen (June Squibb). Helen's sudden death, however, causes Warren to realize how unprepared he really is for a life alone. When his daughter Jeannie (Hope Davis) and her waterbed salesman fiancee (Dermot Mulroney) arrive for the funeral, Warren's conviction that Dermot is a phony and unworthy of Jeannie are totally reinforced. He then decides to take the trip Helen and he had planned at her insistence in the Winnebago which they had just purchased. His goal will be to get to Denver in advance of Jeannie's wedding and convince her not to marry Randall. Once there, he meets his future in-laws, Roberta (Kathy Bates) and her ex-husband (Howard Hesseman), but despite Warren finding his concerns regarding Randall confirmed he finds himself unwilling to incur Jeannie's wrath by continuing to oppose the marriage. Thus, after a poignant speech during the wedding reception, Warren is on the road again by himself, still looking for meaning and human contact.

This film could have been either a good comedy or an interesting slice of life movie about how to handle the problems of aging, death of a loved one, and parent/child conflict. In fact, it is promoted as a comedy, but while it has some very comedic moments, it is in total a depressing drama where a lot of the funny moments are truly black humor. Of course, the Hollywood elite probably do really think that the travails of an ordinary midwesterner are somewhere between funny and pitiable.

Jack Nicholson is excellent, and all the supporting roles are extremely well played. And the technique of using Warren's attempt to instill meaning in his life through his decision to sponsor and correspond with Ndugu, a six year old Tanzanian boy, is wonderfully developed. It allows Warren to tell us about himself, his life's disappointments, and his hopes in a way that is an integral part of the story. At the same time, it reveals how sad his life really has been.

So, if you want to see a well done movie which will cause you to contemplate the potential trauma of retirement and the lack of meaning of life, ABOUT SCHMIDT is worth your time. But be warned, it sure seems longer than two hours. In my opinion, however, if you want to see a even better performance by an actor dealing with the issues of unexpected death, our mortality, and the resurrection of hope, watch Dustin Hoffman in MOONLIGHT MILE. This is a truly wonderful movie that deals with the same themes with real humor and feeling, and provides optimism for the future rather than despair.

Rating:
Summary: ABOUT JACK
Review: Put Warren Schmidt in the upper tier of great Nicholson characters. This is as probing and complex a character study that Jack has taken on in some years and it's a welcomed sight. There are many great moments in this touching and sincere film that others have mistakenly written off as mean spirited. Only Jack can make Schmidt's life contradictions unique... he gawfs at the expense of a housekeeper, makes his wife cash in her stock to pay for half a motor home, yet opens his wallet (and his heart) to an impovershed foster child.From anyone else it would have come off as trivial and forced. Kathy Bates is wonderful in the limited screen time and she has some of the film's best lines. ABOUT SCHMIDT is one of 2003's top films.