About Schmidt

Rating:
Summary: Jack Nicholson shines in this role of an aging retiree
Review: Jack Nicholson was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in this 2002 film and I can well understand why. For years we've seen him play charismatic roles, with an energy that just leaps from the screen. In this role, however, he's cast as Warren Schmidt, a colorless retiree with an awkward gait and a withdrawn personality.

When his wife dies suddenly, Schmidt is left floundering. He's lonely and bored and depressed. His only outlet seems to be the long letters he writes to an African child who he is sponsoring from a children's charity. He spills out his guts to this child, as he gropes to make some sense out of his life.

When he discovers an unhappy truth about his deceased wife, he is spurred into action and sets out on a journey, trying to go back to his childhood home but finding an America that is now mostly shopping malls. Eventually, he gets to Denver, a few days before his daughter's wedding to a young man he considers a nincompoop. Kathy Bates is cast as the young man's mother and she, too, was nominated for an academy award for her performance. She's a divorcee who can be warm and hospitable, but who can also be cruel and impatient with her ex-husband. She's a product of "new age" thinking and, in one of the only real comical scenes of the film, Schmidt finds himself in a hot tub with her making romantic overtures to him.

The film is slow, but that is in keeping with the theme. The cinematography is excellent. I really got a feel of the flat and bleak area of the country, which so reflects the personality of the Jack Nicholson character and the kind of angst that is so endemic in our culture. Well worth seeing. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Great role for Jack Nicholson
Review: In a severe departure from the wise-cracking, womanizing character we have learned to expect from Jack Nicholson, he portrays the introverted, neurotic Warren Schmidt to perfection. Whether he is waiting for the clock to reach his 5:00 quitting time on the day that he retires, or he's trying to fit his frame on an uncooperative water bed, he captures Schmidt to perfection and creates a complex, sympathetic character. His facial expressions are priceless, such as when he overdoses on pain medication before his daughter's wedding and is in a trance at the rehearsal. His movements are slow and measured and the audience can't take their eyes off from him. The movie itself is entertaining, but it wouldn't be nearly as good without Nicholson. Most of the movie is understated, particularly the ending which you will miss if you blink at the wrong time. All things considered, this is a wonderful character study and a real showcase for Jack Nicholson's talents.

Rating:
Summary: A searing commentary on America's soul
Review: I believe the director/screenwriter made a movie about contemporary American society and the protagonist,Warrn Schmidt, just represented the everyday man trapped in it. Thus the common name Schmidt (smith). This movie has much the same sentiments as FALLING DOWN starring Michael Douglas and AMERICAN BEAUTY starring Kevin Spacy.Even close to FARGO (Cohen Bros.) Although, ABOUT SCHMIDT is much more real and subtle, southern California's "underbelly" is as bleak and populated with stressed-out wierdos as FALLING DOWN portrayed it to be; and Nebraska (and many midwest towns)is as bleak as portrayed in ABOUT SCHMIDT. This midwest setting is also a little more "Twilight Zony" than California. Every character in this movie is looking for intimacy,authenticity and reaching out for connectedness.Emptiness and soulessness surround the characters. From the austere opening scene in Warren's office, to the vapid,insincere farewell party to the dreary surroundings and environment of typical small town America. The Dairy Queen scene. The Tires Plus franchise tenticles plopped on Warren's childhood home scene. The anal retentive milleu of the Midwest has numbed Warren (the everyday man). His daughter tries to escape this "passive aggresive" uptight,distant, cold ,"Minnesota Nice" phoniness and moves out west to Denver. And the dysfunction is no better there either. Just louder and more chaotic.Kathy Bates' character(divorced twice) needs intimacy fast. And tries to seduce Warren in the hot-tub after only a few hours of meeting him.(The camera shot showing her hand under water slowly reaching for "connectedness) His future son-in-law is a con man/loser. Ahhhhhhhh,somebody--anybody help! I'm trapped. Where's the balance? Where are the "normal" people ? Ofcourse, in Tanzania !! Warren finds connectedness half a world away. I don't know, I just think this movie has many layers. But I'm quite sure the directer and screenwriter were saying, " American society has some definite quirks and bezaaroland wierdness.In other words,small town America ain't like "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE", it's more like,"THE STEPFORD WIVES" We all see it everyday, from the ubiquitous,ugly billboards,the overwhelimg franchising of America to the shallow,numbed pod-people eating at Diary Queen and hanging out at Tires Plus.

Rating:
Summary: REALLY DREARY AND DEPRESSING
Review: About Schmidt. Let me say the movie is all about the things I watch movies to get away from. If you feel like being depressed about the pointlessness of your existence I highly recommend it. I HAD to fast FWD through a few particularly icky parts. I carefully watched the credits so I could be sure to never see anything else done by the people responsible.

Rating:
Summary: Everyday People & Everyday Lives in "About Schmidt"
Review: Alexander Payne made one of the best films of the 90s with "Election." "About Schmidt" feels very much like "Election" for an older crowd. Jack Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, a just-retired 66 year old who must face life alone after his wife of 42 years suddenly dies. Having difficulty coping with everything from shopping to making lunch to keeping the house clean, Schmidt decides to travel from Nebraska to Denver in his Winnebago in order to stop his daughter from marrying a goodnatured "nincompoop."

Payne's strength lies in making characters very realistic, much moreso than you will see in most Hollywood movies. He doesn't disappoint here. Schmidt is a sad man that feels as if his life has led up to nothing. Things have frustrated him for years, but remaining silent about them for so long has rendered him almost completely ineffectual. The one outlet he is able to use to vent his frustrations is in the letters he begins to write to his 6-year old adopted Tanzanian son, Ndugo. In a role unlike nearly all of his others, Nicholson makes Schmidt a sympathetic loser that nearly everyone will be able to relate to. All of the supporting actors do very good jobs in their quirky, yet realistic roles. These are people that you know, as opposed to Hollywood's tendency to write characters that could only be found in a movie. The only weak part of the film is a few scenes of Schmidt "high" on Percodan, that feels a little too over the top for this film. However, Payne has gotten Nicholson to do many things in this movie that he has never done before, so I can't say I blame him for letting the cameras roll a little longer on things that might've been left better left out of the movie.

Although very funny in parts, "About Schmidt" is a sad, reflective movie. It will undoubtedly make you question your own place in life and the effect that you have on others as well as the effect you have on the world in the grand scheme of things. Unfortunately, the DVD does not have a Director's commentary, which would've been great for this movie. It does offer an extended series of deleted scenes with written introductions by Payne. Very good movie, pretty good DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Jack, Jack...JACK!!!
Review: I am a hardcore Nicholson fan, and I even special ordered his hard-to-get titles for my own library, but this character he played just left me feeling like it would be the last film I'd want my children, or even my friends to see. Why? Because the theme of this whole movie is that there isn't much in life worth doing--or being, or sharing. The insurance salesman turned retiree has a view of the world, and almost everyone in it, as stupid, unattractive, and that nothing old is attractive. He seems to dispise his wife's idiocycrasies but she doesn't get the pleasure back. If all you saw of getting old was this movie, "You wouldn't even GO THERE!! He is harsh on everybody around him, and yet not very hard on himself--and even at the end of the movie, he learns only a small part of what we have to learn to accept and enjoy in our lives, if we want to have joy in it. No, I would view it more like non-entertainment, and non-Nicholson, but there were a few funny parts with the letters to the Tanzanian child. I need a "vintage" Jack Nicholson role (where you know he's going to give us what we all what him for) real soon to get this slow, sarcastic, and cryptic one behind me. Deleting the [deleted] scenes didn't speed up the film, and I doubt they would have slowed it down much had they been included--it was pretty much down and downer. Sorry, Jack, it wasn't you--I think if you could have responded the way you wanted--and the way I wanted to see you respond, At the reception, we all waited for a Jack "Splat" the real deal, and you didn't. You smarmed, and they want us to believe you had a mellowing of heart. No. No. NO. With parts of (real, expressed rage) like only you can do, the movie could have been great.

Rating:
Summary: Dear Ndugu,
Review: This movie is a masterpiece. I don't know if it is more comedy or drama, but I do know that this movie is destined to be a classic. It will make you cry, it will make you laugh. It will make you want to tell everyone you know that they have GOT to see this movie. And the scene with the Hummels sliding around on the top of the RV-pure genius!! I LOVED that part!! There are countless moments of subtle humor all through the movie-so if you are more into the obvious, in-your-face sort of humor that even an 8 year old would appreciate, then you probably won't be very impressed with "About Schmidt".

Rating:
Summary: Boring as hell
Review: I found this movie to be boring. It seemed to drip on an on without much a plot line at all. Follows the life of a dull, depressed man, to whom nothing really interesting ever happens. I would only recommend this to people that enjoy movies that are dull, depressing and where nothing really happens.

Rating:
Summary: THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING...
Review: This film is about Warren Schmidt, a Nebraskan in his mid sixties, who is newly retired from his job as assistant vice president for an insurance firm. He is clearly a man who is not in touch with his feelings or his life, living it by the book, so to speak. He is disconnected from the reality around him, living as unobtrusively as he can. This is evident right from the beginning of the film.

His life really begins when he retires, as a series of life jarring changes occur. His wife of forty two years, Helen (June Squibb), suddenly dies. She is a domineering woman whom he loved on some level but for whom he was unable to express much feeling while she was still living, even though there were many things about her that irritated him. She, however, managed to have had a secret life of which he had not been a part. It seems that she was not all that satisfied with Schmidt, herself. It is an unwelcome surprise that colors his world when he discovers it but, at the same time, serves to begin to ease the pain of separation for him. There are some funny scenes that segue from this discovery.

Their only child, Jeannie (Hope Davis), lives in Denver, Colorado and is about to get married to Randall Hertzel (Dermot Mulroney), a dimwitted, waterbed salesman whom Schmidt cannot abide. He learns some truths about the real status of his own relationship with his daughter, Jeannie, and it is not the idealized relationship that he thought he had. In fact, he learns just how disconnected he is from his daughter, who is really a veritable stranger to him, as was his wife. Moreover, not even his best friend, Ray (Lou Cariou), was whom Schmidt thought him to be.

When Schmidt travels to Colorado for the wedding, he stays with the groom's mother, Roberta Hertzel, a much married, earthy, and passionate divorcee, who is comfortable with herself and not afraid to express her feelings. She is a sort of flower child/earth mother holdover from the late nineteen sixties, early seventies. She tries to make a connection with him but this proves to be too much for Schmidt, as he scurries for cover to the Winnebago in which he travels.

Lacking an emotional connection with any other human being, Schmidt sponsors a six year old, Tanzanian child through a charitable agency, and begins sending him letters, detailing his life as he sees it. It is more of a catharsis for Schmidt, rather than an attempt at real communication with a child. This contrivance also serves to tell the viewer just how Schmidt perceives his life. When he receives a letter with something the child has sent him, the idea that someone has actually thought of him opens the emotional floodgates for Schmidt and unleashes all those repressed feelings of anger, sadness, loss, pain, suffering, in one fell swoop.

Jack Nicholson gives an excellent performance as the repressed Midwesterner who only begins to get in touch with his feelings the end of his life spectrum. He gives a good account of a man who is making his way in, what is for him, uncharted territory. Funny, poignant and sad, it is a performance that is well nuanced. June Squibb is perfectly cast in the role of the Helen, Schmidt's wife. Her apple cheeked countenance and dumpy, matronly look exemplify the stereotypic senior citizen housewife. Helen's penchant for order and cleanliness is brought home by Ms. Squibb's performance, and Helen fittingly dies while vacuuming the laundry room.

Kathy Bates is wonderful as the somewhat bohemian, earth mother figure in the film. Her much talked about nude scene was natural and in keeping with her role. I applaud her courage in doing it, given the emphasis on thinness in Hollywood. While many reviled her for doing it, hers is a much more realistic reflection of what the body of a woman in her fifties or sixties actually looks like. Let me tell you, Jack Nicholson's body doesn't look much better either, but he was not reviled for it. There still continues to be a double standard for men and women, when it comes to excess avoirdupois.

Dermot Mulroney is terrific as the sensitive, easy going groom to be who seems to lack the full quid. Mulroney makes his character quite a likable one. Unfortunately, Hope Davis, as Jeannie Schmidt, serves to make her character a thoroughly unpleasant one. It is unclear, however, whether this was the intended effect. Howard Hesseman is wonderful as the groom's father, Larry Hertzel, and he gets a lot of mileage out of this bit part. Lou Cariou is excellent as Schmidt's erstwhile best friend, Ray.

All in all, this a film well worth watching. The baby boomers out there should take note. It is still not too late to avoid ending up like Schmidt.

Rating:
Summary: Two hours of sadness
Review: Jack Nicholson's amazingly perceptive and ego-free performance dominates the quiet desperation of "About Schmidt," a sad drama about a common man who gradually discovers that he just doesn't matter anymore. Schmidt has just retired from a job that anyone could do, and finds he has nothing to look forward to. In a small, almost defiant gesture, he sponsors an African child - and begins to send the boy letters along with his $22 check each month.

Soon, tragedy and a certain freedom fall on Schmidt, so he hops in his massive Winnebago and hits the road to Denver, where his daughter (Hope Davis) will soon be marrying a well-meaning but dimwitted waterbed salesman (Dermot Mulroney). Ostensibly, his quest is to stop the marriage, but he's also seeking salvation and meaning on his trip. Unfortunately, every turn seems to confirm his invisibility.

There's humor in every story, and "Schmidt's" director Alexander Payne finds it in Schmidt's seething anger and awakening and some wonderful character roles, particularly Roberta, his sister-in-law-to-be (played by the indispensable Kathy Bates). More important than humor, though, is empathy - if you don't identify with at least some of Schmidt's desperation, you're a heartier soul than I. "About Schmidt's" ambiguous ending only reinforces the theme, and places the blame for Schmidt's irrelevance squarely on his shoulders...if you want to avoid a life of quiet desperation, the film seems to ask, what are you going to do about it? Schmidt did almost nothing, so maybe he deserves his place in life.

This is rough going for a lot of audiences. There are slow moments, particularly in the first act, and Jack's performance is so dead-on he's sometimes hard to watch. But "About Schmidt" is a rewarding experience, with a buried life-affirming message: Schmidt may be so common he might disappear, but Payne made a movie about him anyway. That act alone shows an incredible empathy on his part, an empathy which permeates the whole film.