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As Good As It Gets

As Good As It Gets

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of nicholson's best movie ever
Review: This is one of the most best comedy to grace hollywood and the world. Best preformances from legendary actor jack nicholson, actress helen hunt cuba gooding, jr and greg kinnear. i loved this movie and i'm sure you will too. Its a six time oscar winner and eight time nommenee including best supporing actor (cuba gooding,jr). This is my higest rated movie and its a gurantee that you will love it too. 10/10

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 'you make me want to be a better man'
Review: Absolutely fantastic! This was a movie that I have watched several times and loved it just as much as the first time I watched it. In fact, each time I watched it, I found something new that I missed, that made the story even better.

We have a rude, obsessive, compulsive romance writer (of all things) portrayed by Jack Nicholson. A single mother raising a son who is a chronical ashmatic portrayed by Helen Hunt and a gay artist for a neighbor who owns a small dog whose care gets foisted on Jack.

It is so hilarious and yet portrays the sad and emotional conflicts that people face when they are different from others and desire acceptance of those differences among those around them. It is not easy being different in this world.

Even though Jack doesn't want anyone to know how attached he has gotten to the little dog that was foisted on him, the love and care he gives the dog is endearing. The dog clearly loves him back and even imitates Jack's act of not stepping on the cracks in the sidewalk.

Helen is a compassionate waitress who has become a necessity to Jack's feeling of well-being. He has to have her be his waitress, much to the relief of the other waitresses. She is the only one who can put up with his behavior and when she isn't at work because of her son's asthma he gets a specialist to treat him just so she can wait on him.

The interaction between the cast of characters and the budding romance between Jack and Helen make this an endearing movie that will remain in our thoughts and hearts for years to come. One of the best! Enjoy!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Delightfully perfect!
Review: "How do you rate women so well?" asks a flattered young lady after reading one of the man's sappy romantic paperback novels and recognizing his face on the street. He turns around, looks at her and says, "I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability."

The secret of "As Good As It Gets" is its unconventional, and often times irreverent, view of the entire romance scene. It is centered solely on two people, Melvin (Jack Nicholson) and Carol (Helen Hunt). Melvin writes those corny romance novels you always manage to find tucked in between the fiction and non-fiction area of your local bookstore. You know, the kind that little old ladies like to read through at an incredible speed in an ill-fated hope to re-live moments of their past.

Melvin is a bit like Paul Sheldon, from Rob Reiner's "Misery," although I'm sure if he had been found by a murderous fan he would have been killed early on--he's incredibly blunt and annoying. He probably would have told Annie Wilkes what he thought of her from the get-go, not hesitating any more than he has to.

Melvin has obsessive-compulsive disorder, which basically means he goes through strange routines every time he does something, whether it means locking a door twice or not stepping on the cracks of a sidewalk (we all do that, sometimes). I recently read a new Steve Martin novella about a man with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and it reminded me very much of "As Good As It Gets" and the Melvin character. Melvin is such a wacko that he pushes his gay neighbor's dog down the laundry chute after he finds it wandering around the hallway.

The gay man is played by Greg Kinnear. His name is Simon, and he has a small little dog he likes to call "precious." Simon is an artist, but when a band of kids wreck his apartment and beat him up, he is left with the realization that he hasn't enough money to keep his flat, and his boyfriend (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) may break up with him.

But the biggest worry of all is...what to do with his precious?

Frank, played by Gooding Jr., decides to give the dog to Melvin--who refuses at first but is left without any option but to obey. He soon achieves a certain subtle love for the beast, and when Simon has healed and comes back for the dog, it doesn't even want to leave. It even starts to develop nasty habits--like avoiding cracks in the sidewalk.

Meanwhile, a troubled single mother and a part-time waitress, Carol is constantly nagged by Melvin. Only she can deliver him food. Only she can take his order. Only she can kick him out of the restaurant. Mistaking this for some sort of sexual craving, she tells Melvin flat-out that she will never sleep with him. He doesn't seem to care. That had never even crossed his mind.

The fact is that Melvin is insufferably lonely. He likes to act as though he likes to be lonely, but the truth is that his loneliness is something he loathes. He would love to reach out and gain some friends--but he's too proud to humble himself in such a way. We all know people like Melvin--he just takes himself to a new extreme.

Melvin is surely one of the great screen characters of all time, ranking up there with Raymond "Rain Man" Babbitt and Forrest Gump as some of the most unique and likable inventions to ever grace the big screen. Nicholson presents his character in an especially effective way--at first he seems gruff, then he seems strange, then his soft side is revealed, and he slowly becomes the likable mean guy who lives upstairs and likes to try and kill neighbors' dogs.

Hunt won the Oscar for her work in "As Good As It Gets," but it was truly Nicholson who deserved it.

Regardless of all this, "As Good As It Gets" still stands alone as one of the cleverest romantic comedies of all time, and certainly one that both sexes can agree on. The film features some of the most memorable lines ever written on paper, the majority of them all coming from the lips of Melvin Udall, perfectly spoken by a typical gruff Jack Nicholson. They all come off as utterly hilarious and convincing. (Nicholson: "How old are you? If I would guess by your eyes, I'd say you're fifty." Hunt: "If I went by your eyes I'd say you were kind.")

This is the type of new-age romantic comedy that rivals the greatness of "When Harry Met Sally" or "Sleepless in Seattle." It's founded in its characters, their lives, their interaction, and how they learn to overcome their own personal obstacles and moral obligations. This film carries all the Autumn-time sweetness and cleverness of a Rob Reiner comedy, and all the lightness of a Frank Capra movie. It's a delightful blend of comedy and romance, and the type of redefining genre motion picture that "When Harry Met Sally" was eight years prior.

What a perfect, delightful movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Needs to be a two disk set.
Review: This was a great movie, but they should re-release it as a two disk set with more bonus features. It deserves that.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better than what we usually get
Review: During times when it seems like you can't make a comedy without exploiting the handicapped or having bodily fluids fly around (like the Farrelly Brothers movies) or when having intercourse with American Pies is considered witty, and when everything else is a re-hash of the juvenile "Porky's" films of the '80s, "As Good as it Gets" stands out as one better comedies of the last 20 years. It is a genuine attempt to derive humor out of genuine human emotions and situations, and it succeeds most of the time.

There are dozens of other reviews here that will tell you the plot, so I won't go over it again. What's worth going over is the job the actors have done. Nicholson, who has basically been playing parodies of himself since "The Shining", actually reveals a human side to his maniacal persona. Helen Hunt is endearing, outraged and hilarious, all at the same time. My favorite moment is when she curses out her HMO. Greg Kinnear's eyes are so full of tears most of the time, that you are urged to throw Kleenex at the screen, yet this makes his more humorous moments all the more funny. But it's Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s moments that make you laugh out loud, especially when he interacts with Nicholson. James Brooks' direction is near flawless.

My only reason for holding back the fifth star is that the film really doesn't hold up to repeated viewings. You watch it once or twice, and then you have to put it away for a while. The happy ending is a little too neat, but I guess that should be okay. But my chief complaint is that the DVD version really doesn't offer much more than a few interviews with Brooks and the cast that are mildly amusing, but nothing more than what you would see on E! or Entertainment Tonight.

Still, the title of "As Good as it Gets" is very modest. This movie is better than what we usually get.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of The Five Points Concluded, A Novel

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Clever and Humorous Personality Study
Review: When Hollywood gets it right, they get it really right. Such is the case with this movie, which combines excellent talent with a winning script. This movie is a character study as is the Jack Nicholson film "About Schmidt," but the latter was too serious and had too much art to be a fraction as entertaining as "As Good As It Gets."

Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) is an obsessive-compulsive writer who lives a nearly reclusive life in his apartment. In addition to being obsessive-compulsive, he is also a bigot and his acerbic personality wins him no friends and many people who would rather not see him. Jack Nicholson was perfect for this role, bringing elements of characters we've seen him play in films that range from "The Shining" to "The Witches of Eastwick."

Several additional characters are introduced to fully explain Melvin's personality and how his personality changes throughout the course of the movie. Simon Bishop (Greg Kinnear) is a homosexual artist with significant psychological baggage of his own. Simon has a small dog that is used to exploit a crack in Marvin's personality. Simon also ultimately is the recipient of one of two compliments from Marvin that show how much Marvin changes in the course of the film. Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) is the only waitress that will serve Marvin at the restaurant that he goes to every day. Carol has a son who has asthma and allergies and is constantly sick. Carol has little money and her entire life is focused on her son. Frank Sachs (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is standout as Simon's agent and friend. There are dozens of other roles that support these characters with a wondrous complexity that generates the pathos, beauty and ultimately good feelings at the end of the movie.

(...)It's easy to pick out the flaws with this movie. However, pass the flaws by to look at the beauty of the characters and how they interact and evolve in the course of the movie. These actors are very good at their art and the astute viewer will fall in love with them and be left at the end of the movie feeling as though they have had a wonderful experience, without the director ever having had to result to maudlin sentiment to manipulate the viewer's feelings. This heavily awarded movie is well worth having in a library of classics and worth watching again and again.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Title says it all
Review: As far as acting goes this may have been at good as it gets. Jack Nicholson is superb as a obsessive-compulsive man who is arrogant and opinionated. Helen Hunt serves the story well as a waitress with an ill son. Greg Kinnear plays the part of Nicholson's neighbor...he happens to be Gay, something Nicholson likes to mock throughout the film. Nicholson even at 60 years old was masterful in his performance...he was funny, mean and creepy but in the end you had to love his character. He won an Oscar and most definitly deserved it. Helen Hunt won an oscar too...this movie is a definite must have for anyone. There is no genre for this...it's just a really good movie. One final note...this is my last review:( My fiance' says no more...so I hope all that read my reviews enjoyed them...take care.:)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Surprisingly pleasing.
Review: I slept on this movie. I saw it for the first time a week ago. I just wasn't very interested in it when I saw the previews, but this movie gets you from the beginning. Jack Nicholson plays such an interesting character. You love him even before you realize he can be so lovable. Great movie!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What if this is as good as it gets?
Review: Jack Nicholson's line peppers the whole film. Just a surprise hit with amazing performances by Greg Kinear, Cub Gooding, Jr. [who disappoints me to no end with his current choices in films!]. Helen Hunt is great, Jack is awesome. MAYBE one of his best performances.

There are so tremendously comic moments in the film. There are some brutally honest moments in the film. It is everything at once and yet so simplistic. Just a terrific film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Helen Hunt is fantastic in this moving drama about strangers in New York who become connected. All the players are at the top of their game.

VERY highly recommended.


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