Rating: 
Summary: about perfect
Review: i enjoyed this movie. i didn't like it as much as allot of people but i liked it because it's different.
Rating:
Summary: Good, But Only Once
Review: Jack Nicholson turns in another fine performance as a newly retired insurance executive who has done everything right in his life, but is not sure where it got him. His wife of 42 years dies just after his retirement and just before his daughter's wedding. Jack's character, Warren Schmidt, is left adrift. He hops into his brand new, king-size motor home, and hits the road from Omaha to Denver, to visit his daughter, but she really doesn't want him there, so he meanders around until it's time for the wedding. All the while, he is discovering America and trying to make sense of his life. He is also writing letters to a child in Tanzania, whom he has just started sponsoring through a relief organization. Those letters are where Schmidt vents his frustrations and weaves his meager fantasies, with little understanding or insight into why he does so or how his writings will look to the poverty-stricken boy receiving them.This is not a comedy, although it has a few comedic moments. It is a melancholy, introspective, thought-provoking, existentialist drama, that drags at times and can be boring, but it is, because of the fine acting, watching once. It is, in my opinion, a to-rent, not a to-buy movie; after seeing it, you know the story, and I would not be interested in seeing it twice. I am glad I saw it once.
Rating:
Summary: Painfully real
Review: When this movie first came out, there were only two reasons that caught my attention and interest to it. It starred the brilliant Jack Nicholson and was directed by the same intelligent director of Election (incredible movie). After seeing the movie in the theater, I walked out with a sense of satisfication and happiness to how good this movie really is. The other day I was browsing through cdnow.com and was thinking about getting this dvd. When I saw the average customer review and some of the pathetic reviews from some vididiots (people who dont know a good movie from a bad one), I had to write a review to support this movie. This movie is beautifully made in all aspects of film. The script is phenomenal. Some may say it's boring, but what it's doing is portraying everyday life conversation. This movie is so real and not dopped up on Hollywood paparazzi. So, if you think the script is boring, then your conversation in everyday life is equally not entertaining to watch because this script is as real as life. The acting is superb. As others say, the movie would be uncared for if Jack Nicholson didnt play the very dim-witted Warren Schmidt. That statement obviously true. He Schmidt with such reality and truth that you feel as if it's the 66-year old man that lives down the street from you. Kathy Bates is also fantastic. She acts in one of her best roles ever. Now about the movie. Let's be honest, the movie is slow. No getting around it. This is a slow movie that is not for everyone. The movie is so real it pains me to think about retirement. Warren Schmidt has just retired and the problem is, he has always cared about financial problems and his job his entire life that he wonders what kind of difference or influence he will have on someone's life after he dies. It is a question we will all ask when the time comes and we can only home we have made a difference in someone's life. The movie is very creative and I give props to the director for making a movie so different from what we Americans see at the movie theater. This movie is also very funny. Now I'm warning you: this is not a stupid comedy. The humor is very clever and witty. It is not spoon-fed to you like many other comedies in America, such as any Adam Sandler movie (except for Punch-Drunk Love. Another brilliant movie). You have to go into this movie knowing it's not a fast-paced action movie. This movie is not going to use a lot of cheap stupid gags to get you to laugh. If you go into the movie knowing that, you will come out satisfied with no regrets. I fear this is why some people didn't appreciate this movie. We have been watching movies for so long that have a crumy plot, pointless action, and stupid comedy, that we have grown numb to tell the difference between a good movie from a bad one. Film is a work of art. A truely good film will give you a fantastic script and thoughtful characters along with the use of all aspects of film including specific camera shots to portray a meaning ("The Graduate"). These seperate the good movies from the bad ones. A movie that, after it's over will not be totally erased from your mind, but will stick with you and cause a meaning that you will learn and be more aware of. In short, a movie that serves a purpose. Thanks to movies like "About Schimdt," it's about time we had movies go back to that art form..
Rating: 
Summary: I tried to like this...
Review: I'd be happy to give this film five stars: it deals with a subject close to my heart - the loss of a parent and the grief it brings - and the performances are beyond reproach. Jack Nicholson's most vehement detractors must admit that he's one of the most significant stars the American cinema has ever produced, and his most ardent fans must admit that he has an extra large personality that has sometimes overwhelmed his roles. In this film he embodies his character down to the smallest facial tic, and gives it not a single tic more than it needs. Kathy Bates is almost as good, Hope Davis even better, and Dermot Mulroney best of all (this actor is handsome and charismatic enough to be a major star, but he has clearly chosen to be, instead, an artist of great range. Rent this movie and Longtime Companion: you won't believe it's the same person).
But, but, but....
The ending is not moving, it's manipulative and deeply offensive. The very real suffering of many African children is not a mere background to provide a rich American actor - who's in a position to do some genuine good - with an opportunity to score. His character, Warren Schmidt, lives in a house that would be unimaginable luxury to 98% of the world's population. His wife died suddenly but peacefully at home: she wasn't murdered by her government and she didn't starve to death.
I learned one thing from this movie: North Americans have an exaggerated sense of entitlement, and are fatally self-absorbed.
Rating: 
Summary: A Bit Disappointing
Review: If you're buying this DVD thinking that it is going to be one hilarous movie, you better think twice. The movie is about Warren Schmidt, a guy who was just forced into retirement and lost his wife of 42 years. He goes on a road trip and continues to write to his foster child about all his problems and (mis)adventures, while trying to kill time before going to his daughters wedding. The acting by Jack Nicholson is superb. Jack plays Warren Schmidt very well, but the movie tends to lean to boredom. The movie does have a couple of comical moments in it, but nothing that you will actually fall over laughing your head off at. This movie goes more as a drama than a comedy. I give this movie 3 stars, because Nicholson does do a brillant acting job, but the script was not very interesting at all. The good comedy parts are probably within the first 20 minutes and then the rest of the movie you are left saying "when is this freakin thing going to end."
Rating:
Summary: A Little Bit Lonely These Days.
Review: About Schmidt, Jack Nicholson's latest film, is, if you could not surmise from the title, about Schmidt--Schmidt being a lonely sixty-year-old man [played fabulously by Jack Nicholson] whose wife has died and whose daughter--who does not care much for him--is getting married. Just before his wife died, Schmidt purchased a fully loaded RV--the king of the road--which they planned to toll around the country in together. Now that she is dead and gone, however, Schmidt decides to make a two-week trek out of the cross-country road trip to attend his daughter's wedding--planning to spend some time soul-searching, I guess. Along the way he meets people at the rest stops and enjoys their company, but really he spends the trip and the film pensively looking over his life, career and marriage while in his solitude. The film documents Schmidt's elitism and upper-class discriminations--his daughter, it seems, is about to be married into a lower-middle-class family and--franticly trying to keep the status quo--Schmidt tries to talk her out of the union. About Schmidt, there is no doubt, is simply an analysis of Nicholson himself--written as an examination of his Hollywood persona--Jack Nicholson, The Biased and Insensitive Jerk. The film showcases Nicholson's rudeness and tactlessness in an interesting light--films like As Good As It Gets make Nicholson's avid narrow-mindedness seem sweet and charming, but About Schmidt presents this--and itself--as something that is funny only because it is so sad. Schmidt, when he was younger, was the guy that was in control of everything--that is, people responded to him and admired him for being so open and expressive of his opinions--callous as they may have been. There is a very sad scene in the movie, however--in which Schmidt mistakes a friendly discussion with a younger woman as a sexual advance--which verifies Schmidt's loss of control--people aren't willing to just yield to him anymore, as they once did. Schmidt is very lonely, and not only because his wife has died--truly, he always was alone, even when he was the life of the party. Schmidt, throughout the film, seems to finally be realizing that. On the whole, this movie is very good, the most honest and truthful film that Nicholson has probably ever made. Though it is interesting and enjoyable once you sit down and view it, it is the type of film which you may be hesitant in beginning. Once you do, however, you will enjoy it and be compelled into feeling emotion for Schmidt and his self-imprisonment.
Rating:
Summary: Do NOT WASTE your time
Review: This has got to be Jack Nicholson's worst movie ever. The story is unbelievably boring, depressing and lifeless. Other than the movie "She's So Lovely" this is the worst movie I have ever seen. I only watched it through to the end because I kept waiting for it to get better. It didn't! The best scene in the movie involves Kathy Bates naked in a hot tub. That says it all. Horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE!
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful cast and a wonderful heartfelt film
Review: This movie is one of the best movies I've ever seen. Jack Nicholson also gives one of the best performances that I've ever witnessed him give. I don't want to reveal anything, but watching this man go through the ups and downs of life, you forget that you're watching a movie, and that this character is not a real person. It will make you laugh and also make you cry, absolutely superb movie.
Rating:
Summary: BEST ENDING OF A FILM EVER
Review: I wont spoil the ending but while many people may say its depressing I think it is one of the most poetic and open endings I have seen since Raging Bull
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring movie
Review: I feel the proper way to view this film is through a developmental perspective. Schmidt is in the last stage of his life and has suffered three major losses: his job, his daughter, and his wife. The entire film is built around this premise and his ways of reacting/coping with these losses. His road trip is essentially a way for him to revisit and maybe reconcile his past. I found this to be an ultimately hopefuly film, because, by the end, Schmidt had reached beyond his state of despair (Erik Erikson's theory of human development) and was thinking beyond his own self-interests(Ndugu).
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