Rating: 
Summary: The worst movie I EVER saw
Review: Where's the 0 stars rating?By far the tiredest, lamest movie I have ever seen. I've never been Jack's biggest fan, but this is sooooooo bad. I can't believe he did this. Go get Anger Management instead. Story: Old guy retires, he hates his weird wife who smells funny and makes him pee sitting down, and he's secretly pleased when she dies. So he buys an RV and drives around the country. He tries to get with some married lady at an RV park, but he gets slapped and kicked out. Spends the whole movie writing letters about his sad lame life to a boy he sponsored through Save the Children. That's the entire story. Just makes you wanna run right out and buy a copy, huh? Just so you know it's not just me, my husband and brother-in-law saw it with me and hated it every bit as much.
Rating: 
Summary: A subtle,poignant film
Review: About Schmidt is not a film for everyone.It's a film that involves some thinking on your part, and its portrayl of the everyday life of a recently retired suburban man comes off as pretty bleak and hopeless.Jack Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, the man above.Following his retirement, he begins to feel as though his entire life has been meaningless."When I die,what will prove that I ever existed?" He's bored with his wife, his daughter(Hope Davis) is about to marry dim witted, but well-meaning water bed salesman out in Denver called Randall Hurtzel(Dermot Mulroney, unrecognizable).He has nothing to do, and nothing to look forward to.So he starts writing letters and sending out monthly donations to a starving six year old boy, through one of those help-a-kid funds you see on tv.Out of nowhere, his wife dies, leaving Schmidt more alone then he could have ever dreamed to be.He begins to realize how little he appreciated his wife when he still had her, and what a great woman she truly was.Warren decides to take a road trip in his trailer all the way to Denver, in time for his daughter's wedding.He has a few lightly humorous encounters on the way.Upon arriving to his daughter's fiancee's family home, he is overwhelmed by their low-class,over the top crazy antics.Greeted by Randal's nutsy mother(played with rich humor and gusto by Kathy Bates).There are some truly laugh-out loud,unforgettable moments during Schmidt's stay.Warren is deeply concerned with her daughter's choice in marrying this guy, but despite Schmidt's frim protests, his daughter refuses to change her mind.Following the wedding, Warren heads back home, and film draws to its very subtle,but touching conclusion . I can see why someone would call this film depressing-its strarkly realistic in depicting the monotony of being an old and lonely man.But if you really look at this film, you can see that by the end, our man has found some small redemption,has laid down a little bit of proof, that yes, he once existed.Once you think about it, this facet of the movie becomes clear. Jack Nicholson is brilliant in a wonderfully subdued performance.He isn't just portraying Schmidt, he really is this man.He's bitter, and alone, and realistically flawed, but in the end, entirely human, totally believable and undeniable tender.He gets excellent support from the ENTIRE cast.Every single person in this film is pitch perfect, from Hope Davis who plays Schmidt's cold and contemptuous daughter, to Kathy Bates, totally winning in a brashly humorous role. About Schmidt takes a while to understand because it doesn't give away all its meanings.But About Schmidt is a film with great meaning, and the subtle details it provides throughout make it a worthwile experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Buy, But Worth a Rental
Review: Jack Nicholson plays a retired insurance actuary living a somewhat "everyday" life. He's married to a wife he doesn't recognize, mostly because she's not young any longer, and has a daughter in another state about to marry a waterbed salesmen. He doesn't think the man his daughter is about to marry is "up to par" with her. When his wife dies and he is suddenly left alone and facing what it means to be just that - alone, he goes on a long road-trip in his RV. It is ironic that a film about such a boring topic could be played out so interestingly. It was watchable, and Nicholson perhaps helps in that arena.
Rating:
Summary: Nicholson pulls off another brilliant performance
Review: What can I say, About Schmidt is about Schmidt, or rather him setting off to find himself in a round about way. Though Schmidt didn't know it at the time of his retirement, that point really became the beginning of his life, and through various trials and tribulations during the film, who Schmidt is, and his place in the scheme of things is revealed...
Rating:
Summary: About Reflection
Review: This is a great movie that will have you thinking about your life and the choices you have made in it. With respect to fellow reviewer Audrey, I have lived in Ohio (generally considered part of the Midwest) for more than twenty years, as well as in other midwestern locales, and unfortunately many people in the Midwest ARE "gauche dullards." Of course, I don't necessarily consider that a big slam to the Midwest, because I think one could make similarly biting comments about the prevailing attitudes in other U.S. regions and I prefer dealing with people as individuals. I have met enough good and bad in my life to expect Nicholson's character to encounter the same. Performances: Oscar-caliber from Nicholson and Kathy Bates, and everybody else is at least decent. Dermot Mulroney does a great job playing well-meaning but dull Randall. Summary: Nicholson is the Easy Rider who lived on and settled down, and at the end of his life wondered where it went. Traded the motorcycle for an RV with a Select Comfort bed.
Rating:
Summary: I Liked this movie a lot!
Review: I'll give "About Schmidt" Five Stars, because anything's better than watching that *sshole Steve Martin...
Rating:
Summary: Why?
Review: Isn't this like the 10th time in a row Jack Nicolson has played the crusty curmudgeon with a heart of gold? I mean, really, it's not a bad acting job, but it's the same darn role over and over. And now he did it again in that Diane Keaton movie. Really, he plays the same role time and time again and the critics go nuts with praise every time and the public eats it up. It makes me want to gag. Throughout this movie, I kept expecting a bandaged Greg Kinear or Helen Hunt to appear at the home of Kathy Bates, or for him to take a spin with Shirley McLean in a t-top Corvette. I think he's a fabulous actor, but play something else for a change, Jack! Please!
Rating:
Summary: Horrible, depressing movie.
Review: There is no justification for 1 star for this movie. I feel cheated not so much for the money but for the time I wasted watching the movie. I kept on waiting to see the "blisteringly funny" part some critics described it as. Not only the movie is not funny, it is depressing, slow, and life discouraging.
Rating:
Summary: What was the point?
Review: After watching this movie I felt like it was an hour and 40 minute ad for "Childreach". Something like "Is your life empty and pointless? Feel like you haven't done anything worthwhile? Why not sponsor a poor kid from a third world country..blah blah blah". Take away the commercial though and what do you have? Not much except a pompous elitist director who seems to be looking down his nose at ordinary Americans who live in "flyover country". The characters are all cardboard and phony, as are the situations and the way they react to them. (Schmidt throws out his back sleeping on a water bed? To the extent that he has to use a bedpan? Who writes this tripe?) I feel like the director is trying to say that because Schmidt is a conservative business man his life is pointless and empty. So they introduce him to a bunch of freaks who I think are supposed to be "with it". But poor old Schmidt- he just leaves and goes home and cries because he just can't understand it all. (Good thing he's sending money to Childreach...otherwise he may as well just kill himself.) It would be one thing if maybe his exposure to these people resulted in some change in his life or finding some new meaning, then it would have been something, but as it was it was just a bunch of pointless drivel from actors who pretty much "phoned-it-in" and when it wasn't that it was just plain stupid. Schmidt freaks out when a woman touches him in the hot tub, the poor idiot... that's when it's not just disgusting "do you have anything in your bedpan for me?" Poor old Schmidt too bad he was such a stupid moron as to waste his time being an executive in a corporation when he could have been living in a commune. This "movie" is nothing but a pointless waste of time. Even Jack Nicholson couldn't save it.
Rating:
Summary: Melancholy Not Comedy
Review: The trailer and advertising information for "About Schmidt" gave me the impression that this film is a comedy. Indeed, most retailers stock it within the comedy section of their stores. The film, however, is not a comedy but rather a melancholic stroll through the life of Warren Schmidt played by Jack Nicholson. Schmidt is a middle manager in the Woodmen insurance company who has just retired after a long career. He is a conservative middle class man who has become slowly bored with his wife and, for that matter, his life. When his wife suddenly dies, his life becomes rudderless as he tries to re-establish contact with his only daughter who is about to be married to a man that Schmidt believes is beneath her. In fact, the whole family is uncouth and dysfunctional but the daughter plans to go through with the marriage regardless. Reluctantly, Schmidt has no alternative but accede to the marriage. Having essentially explained the plot, the film is simply a study of characters, especially Schmidt. Nicholson plays his part well. Why would one expect anything less? He is truly a sad and pathetic individual but, of course, the world is filled with such souls. Each such person playing his or her part within a greater body of humanity. The film is slow and languid with few highs. See it not for the comedy that some would classify it as but rather for the melancholy of a tragic life.
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