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Summary: False Advertising
Review: Well, I liked this film but it seems that most people who did not went to the theatre thinking it was a comedy. Why? Because that's how it was advertised. All the amusing scenes were used in order to get mainstream audiences to attend it and boy, were they all pissed off when they found out it was a drama - and a drama that makes you think as well! If you're not sure what sort of movie you're going to see according to the ads, go see a film like dumb and dumberer then it will be obvious. I blame most of the bad reviews on hollywood trying to hoodwink the audience to attend this film. I figured out the ploy however when in the local listings it was catagorized as a "drama", therefore, that's what I expected.
So all that aside, this is a good film but it is a bit weak and slow in some parts but if you wait it out, it does have a message and it is highly entertaining!
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Summary: modern existentialism
Review: a curiously intriguing and disturbing look into the typical existence that dubiously calls itself "The American Dream." Effectively captures the existential quandaries and bemusements that plague many.I watched the film twice and found it much more humorous and enjoyable the first try. Something about it drags the second time around. Nicholson's facial expressions and acting prowess, that effectively captures moods and behaviors of ambiguity, really carry this film. The snapshots of caricatures of American life are pretty funny. Where many did not seem to "get this movie," I was pretty won over.
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Summary: Undermined by the trailer
Review: Alexander Payne made a good movie here. It's unfortunate that it in no way resembles the movie featured in any of the advertising or the widely-seen trailer. As with other Payne fare, 'Schmidt' does qualify as a comedy. It's just very, very, very black. But there's also death, depression, deep divisions between father and daughter, and other issues of serious import. The trailer skips around all that stuff to preview what would appear to be a loopy comedy. It takes the 5 minutes or so of Jack Nicholson's impressive physical comedy skills and strings them together to present what appears to be a light-hearted look at a misfit family. Did Payne have any say at all over the content of the trailer? He had to be disappointed with that. At the show I went to, I heard a number of comments on the way along the lines of "feeling duped." Payne delivers some stark, unadorned lessons in the film and because you're not expecting them, it feels like a gut punch...without being given a chance to tighten your stomach muscles. Two good things worth noting about 'Schmidt': - Nicholson's "Dear Ndugu" letters to his African 'sponsored child'. These get simutaneously funnier and more touching as the film goes on. - Dermot Mulroney as Nicholson's son-in-law-to-be Randall Hertzel, replete with a Class A mullet and thinning top. He could have made Randall a broad, idiotic characterization, but as the movie goes on, you see how nuanced his performance is. Great stuff.
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Summary: Why did they make it?
Review: ...It is the most depressing movie I ever saw in my entire life. I am not very young, so I don't find it funny. I do see a lot of people similar to the main character who never figured it out... It is not funny at all, from my perspective. It is scary and depressing, because it is too real, if you come to think about it. The emptiness of existence. It was pictured with obvious talent. Maybe, it makes sense, so more people can realize who they really are? I wish they also point out at some re-aasuring optimistic direction though.
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Summary: Funny! Funny! Funny! but yet CrazY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Great movie! Recommend it for anyone to watch. Jack Nicholson is so hilarious because of the things he does in this movie. You have to see it!
Rating:
Summary: Watch in the right frame of mind
Review: Depending on your frame of mind or what stage of life you're in, this film could either be an incredibly affirming, depressing, or just plain boring 2 hours - or a combination of the three. In any case, Jack does an excellent job in portraying the everyday man - it could be you, your father, a friend, or the person you could end up becoming. It's inspiring if you're going through a "Life is short, you only live once" kind of transition period where you're about to take a leap towards something that could be very fulfilling, but frought with uncertainty. You are aware that if you live life going through the motions and routines, decades fly by before you know it - and by the time you realize you've become someone you don't care for, it COULD be too late. It's depressing as well because the truth does hurt. Schmidt is very ordinary - with all his disappointments, alienation, and hollow victories (ha I don't need to lift up the seat now! - if you've seen the film you know what I mean). You have all these wonderful, acidic and honest things to say, but rarely do say because it only comes to you after the fact, when you're alone, when you have the blanket of anonymity, or when actually faced with the chance you find that going through the motions is much easier because it won't disrupt the routine of your life. This film does not take you to a place rich with characters, compelling storylines, subplots, mesmerizing cinematography, CG effects, etc - thought the directing and acting are top notch and the camerawork subtle and understated. You will not be entertained, and you may not like it for what it doesn't show - and because of that it's brilliant.
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Summary: Very moving if you are in the right state of mind
Review: Which I was. I'm only 32, and lately I've been working almost all of the time, but I find myself occasionally trying to figure out where/how I fit into modern society. The answers don't get easier as one gets older. Doors that were open in the past aren't necessarily open now. People that were at once receptive might no longer seem to care. And you might find yourself truly alone in the world. More alone than you were the day you were born (at least then you had your mother near). While it seems hopelessly "modern" and self-absorbed, you can't but help think about these kinds of things because sometimes your mind puts those ideas and feelings into your head and you can't ignore them. I guess that's why some people turn to vices, because you can't run from yourself. Anyway, to watch this character wait until he's 66--when he is truly and finally alone in the world--to deal with these emotions is a pretty rough ride. The movie was promoted as something of a comedy--and it does have a sharp sense of humor throughout--but ultimately it is quite sad in its reality. It's not exactly bleak, as some say, but its truth hurts. Jack Nicholson almost looks and sounds like a totally different person in this movie. I think a big part of that is due to his weight gain. I don't know if he put on the pounds for that role, or if that's how he is now (he looked thinner in previews for "Anger Management"), but he's practically unrecognizable. He doesn't even resort to any usual Jack tricks or traits. It's a very controlled performance, but not to the point to reducing the character to a deadened automaton. I was afraid at the beginning that he was going to do just that, but at the movie unfolds so does his character's conscience. It's really a perfect piece of acting, though you have to put aside the fact that Jack Nicholson himself--the most celebrated actor of his generation, who is STILL the epitome of cool, and who dates twentysomething Hollywood actresses while he's in his 60s--probably doesn't have to deal with feelings of being ordinary and disposable. Not that he doesn't have his problems, but I doubt that he has ever felt like this character these past 35 years. But put that aside and I think you'll find an interesting character inside what many people in the real world consider a dull straight white male. As for the rest of the cast, most of it is very good except for Dermot Mulroney. He is a caricature and nothing more. Kathy Bates is a hoot in a small yet significant role. Take a lesson from this ordinary man. Take stock now, but keep moving forward with your life. Unless you're Jack Nicholson, more and more opportunities escape you year after year. Keep your list of regrets as short as you can.
Rating:
Summary: LOVED IT
Review: I loved this movie...I think it's Nicholson's best work since As Good as it Gets. Actually I think he gives a better performance in About Schmidt than that one. WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!
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Summary: "About Schmidt" Isn't About Much
Review: "About Schmidt" is a reflective story wherein the title character, a recently-retired senior citizen, tries to find meaning in the life he's lived. The movie follows Schmidt's odd and rather desperate search for self in a similar vein as Saul Bellow's book, "Henderson the Rain King," only taking place in midwestern America. WHY YOU'LL LIKE IT: The movie has its humorous moments. Anyone with a less-than-perfect family is liable to see some bizarre reflection of themselves or their near kin in the movie, often in an awkwardly funny light. Many aspects of retirement age and midwestern life are portrayed and/or parodied in places throughout the movie (though little of it is laugh-out-loud funny--it is, after all, a serious movie). WHY YOU WON'T: This is not a movie for young adults. It is slow-paced and generally depressing. I would describe it as "artsy," meaning "probably brilliant from a cinematographic perspective but generally poor entertainment." It's a good way to fill a couple of hours if the alternative is cleaning out the fridge. Most adults short of retirement-age probably won't get much out of the movie, and those who are retirement-age are just as likely to be disturbed by Schmidt's experiences as they are to identify with them. As a late twenty-something myself, I found it difficult to identify with Schmidt or find much purpose to his various misadventures. The movie ends abruptly and with little, if any, closure. The loose ends of the bulk of Schmidt's life as seen in the film are left as unraveled as they are found. Nicholson's acting is great, but the result is mediocre.
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Summary: A rather extraordinary film about ordinary people.
Review: Warren Schmidt is a man whose very essence is that of "being bottled up." A very decent but equally very unprepossessing man, he has gone through sixty-six years of life largely unable to connect either with his inner self or with others. He is in fact so very ordinary that he represents a sort of "everyman." His story, told simply yet not without eloquence, is about two journeys upon which he embarks following his retirement. One of these journeys - the one lying on the surface, representing his interactions with all those whom he knows - is a tragi-comic mix which, at the end, gets him no closer to himself than he was at the start. The other journey is largely beneath the surface and told much more sparingly but in the end with a sense of satisfaction that is quite startling. This satisfaction, to the viewer, doesn't necessarily sink in immediately; in fact, I can imagine that some - perhaps many - "just don't get it." But I did, and was left with a feeling of closure. And with a sense of total awe at how perfectly Jack Nicholson totally subsumed himself in the title role. The very ordinariness of Schmidt is made apparent in the opening scene. He is watching the clock on his very last day of work in his Omaha office (thence to go to his retirement dinner that evening). But not a second before the clock strikes 5:00. His inability to communicate, to connect with others, is made apparent as early as at his retirement dinner. It is to continue - in this "journey lying on the surface" - throughout the story. Schmidt is ill-prepared to deal with anything other than routine. Retirement is "other than routine"; thoughts of how to deal with it seemingly never entered his mind. He drops back in the office unannounced, only to find himself neither wanted nor needed. Largely at the prodding of his wife, he has already purchased a large Winnebago, so that the two of them can "see the country in their golden years." And then, just barely days into retirement, his wife dies. The funeral service is hardly a galvanizing event; Schmidt's inability to communicate, to open up, even to his daughter, soon to be married to a fiance he dislikes, further estranges him from those closest to him. Now left to fend for himself, we see how ill-prepared for life he really is. The mess begins to pile up as he attempts to deal with restructuring his life, beginning with his wife's possessions. In a shoebox, he finds decades-old love letters to his wife; he had once been cuckolded by his best friend. But at the same time, he undertakes a seemingly insignificant task that will eventually lead to catharsis for him: Through an international foster child agency, he "adopts" a six-year-old Tanzanian boy. Counting on a cloak of anonymity, he begins a series of letters to the boy; his very first efforts at communicating his true feelings. All of this takes up barely the first 30 minutes of the story. The balance largely depicts his RV travels, first in an effort to go back in time to rediscover his roots (not exactly a success when he finds his boyhood home replaced by a tire store and students in his college fraternity disinterested in him) and then to go from Omaha to Denver for his daughter's upcoming wedding. On the way, an outgoing fellow RV-er befriends him, and when the RV-er's equally outgoing wife and Schmidt are left alone while the husband leaves to fetch some beer, once again Schmidt's inability to communicate, now compounded by his inability to "read" other people, has its embarrassingly sad consequences. Schmidt eventually arrives in Denver for his daughter's wedding. The whole affair, like much of his life, is almost entirely anticlimactic, save for one escapade between Schmidt and the groom's lusty mother, played to a faretheewell by Kathy Bates. It is at this time that one wishes that Schmidt would break out of his shell, and his failure to do so cannot be blamed on this earth mother of a woman, who gave him her best shot. All of this leaves Schmidt little more than numb - numb as he'd been throughout - as, finally , he leaves Denver and arrives back home in Omaha. He scoops up some weeks' worth of mail, ignoring all but one. And that one he doesn't ignore? It is the one that finally gives him the emotional release he had bottled up inside him for a lifetime. Yes, it was from that Tanzanian boy. And Nicholson-as-Schmidt, in a most memorable fade-out scene, undergoes what I can only describe as "simply one of the most transformative pieces of acting it's ever been my pleasure to see." And it gives the viewer the release needed as well. It lingers; it truly does. This is a "small" picture, not for all tastes, about very ordinary people, most of whom are hardly memorable and who fade into the background when their purposes have been served. The casting is nigh-perfect for these ordinary, forgettable people, save for Kathy Bates, who occupies the only unforgettable personage in the movie aside from Schmidt himself. But this is really Jack's picture. The extent to which he has made himself into Schmidt is remarkable. It is an understatement to say that he subsumed himself in the role: with his seething-beneath-the-surface dissatisfaction and emptiness, his ennui, his communicative constriction and his "everyman" as "a nobody," not to mention the downsizing of his normally monstrous emotive range, Nicholson IS Schmidt. THIS is what great acting is all about.
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