Rating: 
Summary: A Road Trip Not for Teens on Spring Break
Review: For a subtle, stylized portrait of a retired man who no longer recognizes his life, much less himself, this is an intelligent film if you're not in the mood for special effects and explosions. The mise en scene is carefully laid out to present America's heartland as symbolic of its heart, much like AMERICAN BEAUTY. The characters are understated, melodramatic, and charming in their lack of pretense. Into the mix, Jack Nicholson hits the freeway in his motor home to learn: "Is there meaning in my life?" I laughed out loud at the eccentric humor--especially the letters he wrote to his surprising, illiterate pen pal. For a middle-age version of this story, also try Bill Murray in THE RAZOR'S EDGE. You might prepare yourself for Schmidt by watching a German Expressionist film so you're not restless and will appreciate the humor of nuance.
Rating: 
Summary: As 'Bad' As It Gets?
Review: I just wanna bump up the average customer rating, seeing as how a lot of dumbfounded ditto-heads just failed to see the beauty in this great film. Yes, About Schmidt is depressing, but it's still a beautiful picture. Do you people always need someone to wrap things up in the final act? Does this movie skimp on the punchlines and pointless gags? Is it too real for you little babies? I feel sorry for all of you.
Rating:
Summary: A comedy about regret
Review: This movie saves the best for last. It starts off slow, depicting the boring life of a boring man in a boring way. But you watch because it's Jack Nicholson up there on the screen. You know you won't be bored for long. Sure enough, Schmidt is on the road in his giant RV, travelling to meet his daughter. But as you look closely, you notice that he's wandering a bit. His physical movements match how he's feeling.In the final third, the story suddenly shifts to dark comedy. It's a good move. Schmidt finds himself among people who know how to live, and he's not comfortable with it. Kathy Bates plays the other side of the middle-aged coin, living comfortably without regret. Schmidt changes very slowly throughout the story until, in the final scene, you get a sweet payoff. This is a great movie if you want to see something realistic and honest. It hits a little too close to home for anyone whose life isn't what they hoped it would be.
Rating:
Summary: So Real, It Could Be a Documentary!!
Review: Certainly, this is not like the traditional Hollywood vehicle that gets rid of any trace of reality in exchange for unreal beauty and artifice. I don't think many people were comfortable dealing with this version of reality, since it is fairly anticlimactic. You don't have the feel-good happy ending or the lightbulb that comes on over Warren Schmidt's head. Any knowledge he gains is hard won, just as it is in life. If people do change, they change almost imperceptibly, like a glacier. His mullet notwithstanding, I didn't see what was so wrong with his daughter's potential husband. Characterwise, he seemed like a pretty good guy, which made the movie's dilemmas even more complex. And talk about endings. I can't remember the last time a movie's ending moved me to tears, instead of making me cringe at the cheesiness!!! If you aren't moved by this ending, your soul has departed your body. Just give up and go to Starbucks and get a Frappuccino!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, great acting
Review: I cannot say that this is a very entertaining movie but the great movie doesn't have to be a good entertainment. It leaves quite a sad feeling after, maybe even depressing. But at the same time it makes you look at your life and probably try to reevaluate what you are doing and what's the purpose of all that. The flow of the movie is slow but it is warranted in this case. Jack Nicholson is great (when he wasn't). His acting is superb. And he does it without overdoing, in a very subtle manner. Doing otherwise would probably destroy the movie and Jack is totally up to the task. There are a few hillarious scenes, presenting a very sarcastic (but at the same time sad) view at american life.
Rating: 
Summary: --Three Stars for Nicholson and the cast--
Review: ABOUT SCHMIDT tops my list of depressing movies. I've wanted to see this film for months, and my husband and I chose to watch it thinking that it was a comedy, but it's anything but that. Jack Nicholson is brilliant in the role of Warren Schmidt and we were not disappointed in his acting at all. In fact, Kathy Bates was also very good as the mother of the future son-in-law. The cast did a great job, but the story was dismal and almost seemed like a documentary of a man who really didn't have much happiness or joy in his life. The story is exactly what the title says, about Schmidt, who retires at the age of sixty-six from his job as an actuary for an insurance company. It's quite obvious that the job was his life. Schmidt is a bland, but seemingly pleasant man. His wife is a bossy drudge who rules the roost. They live in the Midwest. Their only daughter (Hope Davis) lives in Denver and is engaged to (Dermot Mulroney) a man who is not terribly bright, but seems sweet. He is hopeless in the career department and Schmidt feels that his daughter is marrying beneath her. They don't see the daughter too often, but her father is subsidizing her, and he sends her a monthly check. When Schmidt's wife dies shortly after he retires, his world falls apart even more. He attempts to visit his daughter before her upcoming wedding, but she tells him that she's too busy to see him. After watching a television commercial for an agency that helps needy children, Schmidt signs up and receives a photograph and information about Naugu, a six year old boy who lives in Africa. He begins writing letters to Naugu and from the letters comes the story of Schmidt and how he really feels about his life and family. The letters are the most creative and best part of the storyline. If you want to see Jack Nicholson in a fine performance, see this film, but know that this tedious story is not going to do much to make you feel good about growing older or life in general. .
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Depressing Movie I have ever seen
Review: If you are going to buy a "feel good movie", this one is not for you. This movie is an awaekening to anyone that sits in an office, going through life without ever really accomplishing anything. About Schmidt, is in a sense a tragedy becuase by the time he realizes his flaws, he is too old to change them.
Rating:
Summary: A powerful Triumph that will leave you wanting more....
Review: This movie is amazing. I saw it twice in theaters and numerous times in my home. I like to fall asleep to it. The Extra features are pretty good, the deleted scenes made me laugh. I am hoping for an About Schmidt 2. Buy this movie and watch it again and again. It is worth every penny. Also, there is a steamy nude scene with Kathy Bates.
Rating:
Summary: The hot tub scene makes the movie, but
Review: This was the not the film I was expecting. It's not bad, per se. But it's very different. Jack's character is depressed and has no control over his life really. His daughter is... well, she has issues. And she wants no advice from him. It's a sad film throughout and there is no clear resolution to the film, which is somewhat unsatisfying. Jack does a good job, but there needed to be a little more.
Rating:
Summary: About as REAL as it gets...
Review: "About Schmidt" is a difficult film to watch. The main character, played by Nicholson, is not easy to like: he's hopelessly self-absorbed, cowardly, and basically pathetic. During the course of the film he does manage to gain a fair bit of enlightenment and personal growth, but it's all too little too late: there are no magical, uplifting, tear-jerking transformations and irreconcilable differences reconciled, no unsurmountable problems surmounted, no crowd-pleasing Big Happy Ending to wrap it all up in a nice little bow. Schmidt is an amusing and interesting character, yet so unvarnished that you really DON'T want to identify with him. Yet it's equally hard to DISLIKE this film, because it rings so true on so many different levels: plodding through our cutthroat corporate/work culture, the impenetrable sterility of life in the suburbs, selling out the best years of one's life and then being left with the sorry leftovers for a few years before kicking the bucket, an empty gray marriage chosen out of sheer laziness and fear...who isn't guilty of at least several of the preceding? Bleak it is, but also brutally honest, uncompromisingly authentic. Without any flights of sentimentality or saccharine or wishful thinking, "About Schmidt" hits us with the end result of precisely such a wasted life: the enveloping grayness, emptiness, isolation and desolation of it all when two of our most powerful diversions are finally stripped away---the job and the spouse---and we can no longer run away from the lie and the farce that we've made our life into. Think of it as a wake-up call, a "Carpe Diem" movie in reverse: this film shows you precisely what happens when you DON'T seize the day but instead choose to waste your life away.
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