Rating: 
Summary: I'm all about Schmidt !
Review: What a rare find. I saw "About Schmidt" today (randomly, because we were too late to see the other movie). I'd seen some previews, but didn't know what to exactly what to expect. The film starts out with Jack's character, Warren Schmidt, sitting at his desk at work, staring at the clock. Interesting way to start the movie -- it was hard to tell what direction the movie was going to go in -- luckily, I thought it went in a brilliant direction. This Dramedy is so touching and heart-wrenching -- yet happy and sarcastic at the same time. In the theater, there were very old people, very young people -- men, women -- a very broad range of audience members. I think most people will either love it or hate it. It may be too "thought-provoking" or "sappy" for some. It was a long movie (atleast it seemed that way) but you get so caught up in Schmidt's life, you don't care. He's an unpredictable character you never know what he's going to do or say next. The "Dear Ndugu" scenes were sad -- on the outside he seemed to be somewhat of a cheap, irritable and blunt man -- but deep down inside you realize he's actually more sad inside and lonely than anything else. This movie covers everything -- it's a broad spectrum of Schmidt's life within a weeks time. Jack is great in this role. He WAS Schmidt. He didn't say a lot in the movie -- but he didn't have to. His face said it all. I could have done without the hot tub scene with Kathy Bates, but maybe some comic relief was in order at that time in the movie. The part where he goes into Dairy Queen in the beginning of the movie and orders a blizzard was interesting ... random ... he ordered a Reese's & Cookie Dough Vanilla Blizzard. Medium. I wonder if there was some hidden meaning in that... Some people who wrote reviews on here didn't like the ending - I did. I don't want to give too much away so I'll just say this: About Schmidt had a lot of depth. If you are looking for a quality movie -- with good character development, great acting, intriguing plot, a movie that will suck you into it's world for a few hours -- this is it.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best films of 2003!
Review: This was one of the most thought provoking films of the year. It really makes you think about where you will be in your life, physically and emotionally, when you finally are of old age. It was also very realistic, and lots of the things in the movie rang true. Schmidt is very much like my own grandpa. Lots of his mannerisms and quirks were, scarily, identical to Schmidt's. I think this is a film that senior citizens can appreciate and embrace. It is a somewhat depressing film, but hey, that's just life sometimes. It holds nothing back in it's portrayal of loneliness and the search for forgiveness. Tender and touching, this is a film with lovely performances that everyone should see. This one deserved more Oscar nods. Highly Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Well, I was prepared to another treat of good old hystrionic overemotional Jack ( The Shining, Easy Rider, Witches of Eastwick, even Batman, take your pick) and what i got? A watered Jack, whit a flimsy story that is stretched to a normal lenght by means of the weary roadmovie trick.Poor Jack is pensioned-against his will, one surmises, and he's left whit an ugly fat wife who irritates him... and who dies almost immediately of stroke. Our Jack has only one harpish daughter who is betrothed to an absolute slovenly scoundrel, and his only confidant and pen-pal is an african child who he has distance-adopted, out of a generous impulse prompted by a a desire to do something useful whit his pensioned life. After discovering some unpleasant truths about his wife and himself, he seeks refuge to his daughter, only to be rebuffed. Now the movie stretches in a prolonged midwest travelogue whit very little meaning, and finally our Jack arrives in the ramshackle neighborhood of his future son-in-law.Here we have some near-laugh due to a water-bed (we cannot help but remember the Snoopy episode by Schulz) and to the clumsy attempts of intimacy in a jacuzzi by the mother of the marvelous specimen his daughter is going to marry.Having seen the desolate slovenly milieu his daughter is going to join, our Jack tries to convince her, but in vain, and he is also forced to feign happiness whit the situation. When he returns desolate at home,feeeling that his life is worthless and that had he never existed it would have made no difference,he'll find solace in a touching letter.
Well, the finale is moving (I was moved myself) but the story is, all in all, very thin, and the relationships between the protagonist and the other charachters oversimplifyed and unresolved. A plot overstretched and undecidedly upended between satyric comedy and drama, attaining only sometimes the comic sting of the first and the poignancy of the latter. But what I found insufferable is the absolutely pointless wandering of the protagonist that takes over a good third of the movie.
Rating:
Summary: A Superb Movie Experience
Review: About Schmidt resonates with the great craftsmanship of first person fiction/character studies, the first person in this case being Warren R. Schmidt - an upper-middle class average Joe who at his retirement is told that the superficialities of life mean nothing when stacked up against having a fine career, loving family, and lasting friendships. As the film progresses all of these meaningful aspects of life are proved to be sour- his career as Insurance-Actuary Vice President at Woodmen of the World Insurance Company is filled by a twenty-something kid; his wife is a sweet old lady who over 42 years of marriage has worn Warren down to a nub (i.e. sitting down on the seat to take a squirt); his daughter, marrying a man who is a bonafide dimwit with a mullet, looks at her father with greater resentment than respect; and the friend who told Warren of his knowledge of retired life had an affair with his wife. But in a way, Warren knows this from the start, as after the speech he goes to the bar and has the strongest drink on the house. Right from the start we know this isn't a pretty picture of life, and yet one of the most amazing things about this film is that it's a comedy. Jack Nicholson, one of the great actors from my view, takes on the challenge of a role like Warren Schmidt, an old, downtrodden man and gives him all the perfect touches, even just in the eyes, face and eyebrows we know how Warren feels from scene to scene. This is his best role in over twenty years and it is deserved of his recent Oscar nomination. Of course, this is not to downplay the other elements that make this a awesome pic- Alexander Payne, along with his co-writer Jim Taylor (of Election fame), set up a tragi-comedic landscape in middle America, getting as much realism as satire of the common-folk, and bringing on laughter when we think it's too serious to be funny. They also know Nicholson can be good, but can only be as good as the supporting cast, and surround him with key players such as Dermot Mulrooney as Randal, Hope Davis as his daughter, and in a brilliant showcase, Kathy Bates as the matriarchal in-law with a penchant for terribly uncomforable moments. Possibly the most crucial part of the film comes in Warren writing letters to a little Tanzanian boy named Ndugu who serves as Warren's confesor of sorts, leading up to the emotional peak of the film which I wont reveal here, but does confirm that a little spark of genuine compassion is revealed to Warren and it is well deserved. Nicholson's fourth best performance to date, a winner in this wintry movie season.
Rating:
Summary: Dear Ndugu...
Review: I first went to About Schmidt with my Dad, expecting to like it but not love it. I loved it. About Schmidt is an excellent movie. It has a great mix of humor, tragedy, satire, love, and has got to be one of the bleakest movies ever made. Jack Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, a retired insurance salesman who lives in Omaha with his wife for 42 years. When his wife suddenly dies, Warren's daughter Jeannie, flys over from Colorado for the funeral. Accompanying Jeannie is her fiance Randall, a water-bed salesman who is not exactly Mr. Right in the eyes of Warren. After Jeannie and Randall leave, Warren trudges through the sea of frozen dinner packages and food wrappers throughout his house and packs up some clothes for a trip he suddenly decides to take. Driving a brand new luxury RV he and his wife bought recently, Warren heads not only to places he hasn't been to in many years like his childhood home, but also to Colorado, to help Jeannie and Randall prepare for their wedding. As Warren manuevers along the dismal prairie roads however, he begins to discover that his trip isn't just a regular vacation, but actually a personal journey to discover if he had any meaning in his life. The end is a tearjerker. Jack Nicholson turns in a brilliant preformance as our depressed but friendly title character. The film also boasts a strong supporting cast, most notably Kathy Bates as Randall's well meaning but unattractively spunky mother (the jacuzzi scene made everyone in the theater groan). The script by Alexander Payne is very well written and powerful, with often hysterical humor that doesn't require toilet and sex gags. One rather funny yet serious part of the film that comes to mind is also hinted in my review title. Warren decides to do a program where he sponsors an orphan child in a rural country, and his foster child is a six year old African boy named Ndugu. Warren writes to him many times, often after a serious event has taken place. The sequence when he writes his first letter is absolutely hilarious. This part of the film also has a lot to do with the ending. About Schmidt is such a more enjoyable film than a lot of the movies that come out in theaters these days (A Guy Thing and Biker Boyz come to mind). Whether you're looking for a film that may actually change your look at life, or you just want to find something to do tonight, give About Schmidt a chance. I guarantee, it's worth checking out.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie
Review: My wife and I watched this highly entertaining movie- not expecting it to be so good. Jack Nicholson gives an academy worthy performance as a widower who reflects on his life. In the twilight of his life, he notices what is and what is not important in life. Jack Nicholson gives a performance that can be best described as restrained hyperactivity with a dash of humor and insights. Although this movie is similar to another good movie, Harry and Tonto, Jack Nicholson (along with Kathy Bates, Hope Davis, and Dermot), this movie is a must-see movie. We are still in our thirties- but would want to reach our golden years with few, if not any, regrets. Watch this movie and reflect what is important (and what is not important) in your life.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing Comedic About It
Review: The opening shots of the huge rectangular Woodmen building towers over the Omaha skyline; we view the structure from different angles, but it nevertheless imposes its presence on the rest of the scene---as it pretty much does in the life of Warren Schmidt, the upper middle class Willy Loman of the insurance business. Sixty-seven year old Schmidt goes through the motions of his last day at the firm, watching the clock on the wall of his cleared-out office tick closer to 5:00 PM with the resignation and boredom one would expect from a man of "wood". Once Schmidt's life at Woodmen draws to a close, with a perfunctory retirement party complete with insincere toasts and speeches extolling his personality and dedication, we begin to get the sense that Schmidt could care less. His life is about to become meaningless without the anchor of nine-to-five employment. The routineness of his life as exemplified by his scathingly critical expose of his wife and his unrealistic and sentimental memories of a daughter that thinks of him as a financial resource rather than a mentor/father back slides from 'drive' to 'reverse' when Schmidt's wife suddenly dies and leaves him cruelly alone with his sense of failure and no way to face the future.
I found nothing vaguely amusing about this film. Yes, there are some laughs, but they are tinged with a sour realism. Nicholson's performance is perfection--his frugality of spirit underlined by his begrudged finacial endowments to his only daughter ironically are contradicted by his ability to revel his true self in letters to an unknown 6 year old African child that he fosters through a 'Save the Children' organization. Sadly, Schmidt can only emote from a distance and certainly not with family or friends. His film journey is one where he undergoes no real postive transformation. Instead, as he struggles to find some meaning in his life, he is touched by something so far removed from his mid-western world, I wonder if his emotional catharsis at the end of the film merely signifies a further cracking of reserve and plunge into a deeper more despondant despair, rather than the herald of positive realization noted by the other reviewers.
Kathy Bates' far too short and unpivotal role as Schmidt's daughter's future mother-in-law has gotten far too many kudos, most likely because of her rather daring naked display in a backyard hot tub. She and her cartoonish extended family merely serve either to emphasize Schmidt's emotional detachment or to epitomize the automatic human Schmidt was before his retirement, death of his wife and rejection of his daughter.
As this film poses the big question, it is no means boring, nor should it be overlooked. However, rather than uplift, it depresses and for this I subtracted 2 stars;it is certainly not a film I would want to watch over again and I will make sure I avoid it on video and cable. I do not recommend this film to anyone who has lost a parent or a loved one as it will only excruciatingly detail all the anxiety and helplessness that anyone spiritually healthy would want to forget.
Rating:
Summary: Easier Rider
Review: This is a great movie! A rambling road picture that is very uncharacteristic both of Hollywood in general and Jack Nicholson in particular. Lots of great character moments in this long, open-ended film. The letters to Ndugo are great! One of the best endings I've seen on a movie in a long time, as compared with nlike "Adaptation." and "The Hours" which are both great films up until their endings.
Rating:
Summary: A superb character study.
Review: A lovely balance of the satirical and the affectionate, Alexander Payne's "About Schmidt" is a perfectly calibrated comedy-drama. As in his earlier movies "Citizen Ruth" and "Election," Payne proves himself a modern-day Sinclair Lewis as he depicts recognizable Middle American characters trying to break out of the stultifying patterns of their lives. Warren Schmidt, an Omaha insurance executive, is forced to face up to his long-unexamined life as he faces some jolting changes--retirement, the sudden death of his wife, the marriage of his daughter to a waterbed salesman. He pours out his (angry) feelings and (usually self-deluded) thoughts in his letters to the six-year-old African boy he sponsors through a charitable organization. These letters are a sure source of hilarity, as well as insight, throughout the movie, but they also lead to one of the most moving payoffs in any recent movie. The dialogue is perfect, the music (by Rolfe Kent) notably graceful, the cast impeccable--particularly the underrated Dermot Mulroney as Schmidt's low-life prospective son-in-law and Kathy Bates as Mulroney's Bohemian mother. But the real reason to see this movie is Jack Nicholson, giving what may be the finest performance in one of Hollywood's most illustrious careers. Nicholson divests himself here of his usual devilish shtick; his Schmidt is stubborn, blinkered, helpless as a baby in any situation that wouldn't occur in an insurance office. It's a magnificent performance, particularly in how Nicholson can change the whole tone of a scene with a single movement of his eyes. (Note: Art mavens will roar at Payne and Nicholson's brief, hysterical hommage to Jacques-Louis David's "Assassination of Marat.")
Rating: 
Summary: A Bitter Lesson
Review: Did not leave the theater feeling good but it was certainly a thought provoking movie. Schmidt was actually a rather pitiful person who did not learn about giving back until very late in life. A good lesson that balance is incredibly important! Nicholson was fantastic as usual.
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