As Good As It Gets

Rating:
Summary: Definitely not a comedy
Review: This movie always shows up under the category of comedy. I have no idea why. I did not laugh more than once in this movie -- it was a drama if I've ever seen one. Maybe that's why I didn't like it. I went in with comedy expectations (b/c that's what we were lead to believe) and got a drama. Frankly, I was bored. This is another example of a critically-acclaimed and award winning movie that had little entertainment value. If anything, I found it depressing and dull.

Rating:
Summary: One of Jack Nicholson's Greatest Performances
Review: This is essentially a good movie that is graced by an absolutely stellar performance by one of America's great film actors. Jack Nicholson has had several performances as memorable as this one, but he has never had one that was appreciably better. As the child of an intensely obsessive-compulsive father, his performance especially hit home with me (as I was watching this movie with my daughter, I asked her, "Does Jack Nicholson remind you of anyone?" and she immediately shouted, "Grandpa!--out of the mouth of babes).

The brilliant thing about this movie is that it doesn't just stop with a character with a serious social-psychological problem, but deals with his attempts to break out of his mental prison to engage in normal relationships. Partly this is done through his unexpected relationship with a neighbor's small dog. Partly this is achieved by what is initially a selfish concern with the difficulties of a waitress with a son with serious health problems (selfish because her absence from the restaurant to deal with her son's health problems upsets his dining routine; he would rather pay out money to help her son than have her miss taking his order for his meal). Gradually, however, he develops a concern for the waitress (Helen Hunt) not merely as the woman who takes his orders, but as a human being. Eventually, in his own highly limited way, he sorta, kinda falls in love, to a degree that he is able to utter one of the most romantic lines I have heard in a film: "You make me wish I was a better man." He isn't a better man; he isn't even an especially desirable match. But she is able to accept his affection, with all his limitations as a person. It isn't the Disney version, but it is all rather lovely.

The cast is by and large excellent. Both Nicholson and Helen Hunt won Oscars for their performances. I didn't care for Cuba Gooding Jr.'s rather campy gay character, though I suspect the problem was more in the way his part was written than in his performance. I thought Greg Kinnear was OK as a gay artist and neighbor to Nicholson (in addition to being the owner of the dog), but like Gooding, I could never really accept him as being gay. But the picture is carried by two superb performances by Nicholson and Hunt.

Rating:
Summary: The dog should've gotten an Oscar also....
Review: This was, I thought, a tailor-made role for Jack Nicholson. Originally, I was rooting for Robert Duvall to win the best actor award, but after seeing this three times and analyzing the performance, I definitely agree with Jack Nicholson's win. He is such a model of a miserable, despicable person, and yet you see little flicks of expression that reveal the real person within, the person he is trying to repress because he is more comfortable with people wanting nothing to do with him than he would be if he were liked.

However, you can not fool a dog, even if you try to dump him down the chute for the trash. And the dog is definitely one of the major factors enabling the good person within the Nicholson character to surface.

There's a lot to be said for this film, but basically, it's been said. I will say that I've watched it four times now and each time, find something I missed before. I am not a Jack Nicholson fan, but he really shines here. He has you quite despising him at first, and by the last half hour, you're rooting for him to succeed in redeeming himself.

This is considered a comedy, but there is a very serious undertone to it which is quite well brought out by the acting of the three principle characters (and the dog!).

I hope you don't let any dislike of Jack Nicholson keep you from seeing this. Chances are you'll end up glad you watched it.

Rating:
Summary: well acted
Review: this is a funny film, with some of the greatest lines ever written for jack nicholson--and he has had some great ones. but helen hunt has started to get on my nerves the more i watch this film. i've not been a big fan of hers and in this movie she just feels abnoxious. still, thankfully it doesnt take too much away from the great acting by both jack nicholson and greg kinnear, who was truly wonderful as the gay neighbor.

Rating:
Summary: Could Watch Over and Over
Review: I love this movie.....and for the first time I love Jack Nicholson......

Rating:
Summary: My favorite movie of all time.
Review: This has to be the greatest movie that I have ever watched. I watch my copy of "AS GOOD AS IT GETS", along with watching it every time it is shown on t.v.
It's the type of movie that makes you laugh, cry and really understand all types of people. The faces along with the comments that Jack Nicholson makes throughout the movie really are fabulous.
It's a really good, "make you feel good all over movie."

Rating:
Summary: Well, 3 1/2, but I'm generous...
Review: I feel two ways about this film... I rather liked all of the actors, especially Nicholson. I thought, however, that some of the writing was inconsistent, especially in the case of Kinnear's character, meaning I think some of his actions weren't consistent with his overall behaviour... I'd have to watch it again to tell you exactly what. Their portrayal of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), as well, wasn't terribly convincing. Again, the consistency... he recovered too easily from his phobias; the washing of the hands multiple times was ignored after the first time... later, his degree of fear of being dirty was downplayed. My nitpicking is probably due to being the son of a psychology major.

One other thing struck me about it: the theme becomes "OCs can change themselves through force of will, through having to conform to other people's expectations... all they need is the right motivation," which I disagree with. Nicholson overcomes his fear because he's in love... it's a nice idea, but it oversimplifies OCD. Hunt's character never acknowledges that she might have to account, somwhat, for Melvin's disorder. No one ever says, "Okay, I'm going to ignore that remark, because I really do think you feel bad about it and you're trying." There is no compassion for him.

Rating:
Summary: A BEAUTIFUL MOVIE.
Review: It seems like year after year after year I am consistently disappointed with the films and actors chosen for Academy Award nominations. I usually don't even bother to watch the awards show because it's very rare that there is anyone I really want to win. 1998 was one of those rare exceptions...and it was because of this movie.

There is something about Helen Hunt that fascinates me. Not only is she able to display believable emotions but more importantly she always comes across as someone whom the viewer truly, deeply cares about. I am not embarrassed to admit that I cried on more than one occasion during this film. It was at times heartbreaking to watch her character suffer through so many difficult situations.

"As Good As It Gets" features the talents of Helen Hunt, Jack Nicholson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Greg Kinnear and the underrated Shirley Knight. There is, of course, a plot to the film but it seems secondary to what this movie really is about...human interaction. Jack Nicholson plays Melvin, a completely neurotic person who won't step on cracks in the sidewalk and actually brings his own silverware to the only restaurant he'll eat at. Helen Hunt plays Carol, a waitress with whom Melvin becomes quite smitten with. Simon (Greg Kinnear) is a gay tenant in Melvin's building and Kevin (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is his lover.

Circumstances come about which send Melvin, Carol and Simon on a road trip to remember. I would usually go more into detail about the plot mechanics but they seem almost trivial in a movie of this caliber. The true enjoyment is watching some of the finest actors of our time doing what they do best. You really want to see these characters find true happiness. If you are one of the few people who have yet to see this film then please, please go out and rent it...or better yet, buy a copy. You'll be crying with Helen Hunt, laughing hysterically at Jack Nicholson's antics and will feel amazingly fulfilled when the beautiful ending rolls around. "As Good As It Gets" is a modern classic.

Rating:
Summary: As Good As It Got
Review: I hate to admit it, but I've never been a fan of Jack Nicholson.

Also, I've never been smitten with the lovely Helen Hunt.

Lastly, Greg Kinnear has always been REALLY too smarmy for me.

However, somehow AS GOOD AS IT GETS has a special place in my heart.

Nicholson is absolutely fabulous as the neurotic writer who, due to circumstances wildly beyond his control, has to not so much step outside of his comfort zone as he has to destroy the barriers that have isolated him from society when the people that make up the routine of his life -- eating at the corner restaurant, pestering the gay neighbors -- start to come apart at the seams. The crusty exterior, we learn, is just a facade, and the man underneath -- while not perfect -- accepts that life is worth living ... as good as it gets.

Helen Hunt is absolutely radiant in the role as the corner shop waitress who's forced to deal with Nicholson's habits ... and, much to her surprise and the audience, she begins to experience true emotion for the man.

Greg Kinnear plays the struggling artist role to perfection. He has bouts of great self-esteem countered by comic moments of heightened anxiety, and the subtlety he brings to his portrayal is may be all-too-Hollywood but is surprisingly human.

A perfect mix, this film is about AS GOOD AS IT GETS.

Rating:
Summary: An epic tragedy
Review: If this isn't the best film ever made, it's at least among the top ten. However, classifying this a "romantic comedy" applies a grievous misnomer to a film of great import. Only superficially humorous, this film is rather a tragedy in the finest Sophoclean tradition. The "professional" critics, uneasy with the power of the story and Nicholson's performance, have mis-categorized this film in almost every way. It's a story of hubris, an inflated ego and intelligence, challenged by an envious world concerned only with its daily survival.

The story concerns a professional writer [Nicholson] living alone in a New York apartment. His gay neighbour dotes on one of those yappy, scruffy dogs "cliff-house" dwellers seem to favour. Melvin Udall, the writer, suffers almost countless compulsive disorders, exacerbated by his urban life. He avoids cracks in the sidewalk, is obsessive about cleanliness and, cloistered by his work, incapable of everyday discourse with other people. Opening with him disposing of the dog, Nicholson sets the tone of the film in its first moments. What seems cruel and inhuman is simply the expression of a man easily perturbed by minor irritations. Which is crueler, disposing of the dog, or keeping one in urban confinement?

Although the dog, Verdell, is rescued [to go on to stunning visuals later in the film], Udall is confronted by his neighbour and blurts his aversion to Simon's homosexuality. As a writer who's set himself apart from the world surrounding him, it's not an unexpected attitude. His vehemence is an almost predictable reaction. Offending people, even when he doesn't intend it, keeps that world at bay and protects his own ego. This isn't a particularly unusual condition among creative people, who are usually viewed by suspicious envy by the rest of the world. The models for Melvin Udall are legion. Patrick White and Xavier Herbert of Australia, George Bernard Shaw in the UK, J.D. Salinger in the US are but examples. Aloof, detached from society, they rarely expressed what are commonly termed "human emotions" to their contemporaries. Udall is following an all too-common pattern.

What is different, but not unique, is Udall's being forced to come to grips with the aptness of his viewpoints. That this realization comes through waitress Helen Hunt is what gives this film an additional fillip of humanity. Hunt [Carol] chastises him, disciplines him, harries him, but in the last analysis, talks to him - as an equal. She refuses to submit to his overbearing demeanor which gains his grudging respect. Learning of her son Spencer's asthmatic condition, he provides help with the only resource he can give - money. He doesn't do it for altruistic reasons - he's being selfish, wanting her to return to wait on him at the restaurant. But the act opens his world which he tentatively, grudgingly begins to explore. The exploration is fraught with feints, mis-steps and errors, but he continues the effort. He's reluctant; it's a massive challenge for someone who's held himself intact alone for so long.

Classifying this film as a comedy is due mainly to Nicholson's ability to deliver stinging one-liners a viper would envy. No-one else in Hollywood could have entered this part with a finer track record in delivering the scathing character assassination, the piercing insult, the scornful rebuke. One can envision other "romantic comedy" couples [to remain unnamed] who might have been cast in these parts. The image is hollow and flat. Nicholson is unmatched at biting wit delivered with facial expressions that a Falstaff couldn't convey.

It is, of course, Helen Hunt who emerges as the wonderful surprise as an unexpected talent as the single mother struggling for survival. Caught for years in a stultifying TV sitcom, Hunt became visible to movie audiences through some simplistic roles - until this one. From this film, one can hear the grinding teeth of envious peers who will be hard pressed to match this performance. Suffused with grace even in adversity, she achieves complete mastery of what was needed for the role. One scene alone will reside in your memory. The pressure overwhelms her and she breaks down in a storm tears. "Women's tears" have long been a mainstay of Hollywood gender allotment. Hunt, however, fights the breakdown every step of the way, her conflicting emotions flashing across her face as the camera moves to close-up. Could you do it? Can any other actress match it? Possibly, but not likely. Her Academy Award was richly deserved. She's not been given a proper occasion to display these talents since AGAIG, but we can only hope another opportunity will arise soon.

Those who've criticised this film on these pages and elsewhere should sit down in front of their screens quietly and undisturbed and look again. If you're prejudiced by the label "romantic comedy" [which is understandable given how many such films are issued by Hollywood], strip the label from your mind and view this film again. You may join me in saying it will be a long time before the quality of this film is matched.