- 139 Minutes. Rated PG-13.
Quote: Good times, noodle salad.
I say it early and I say it often: my favorite this, and my favorite that, the all-time greatest hibbitty hooplah. Straight up, though? This is my favorite Jack Nicholson role, period. Lots of movies have good acting, and many of them still have one or two really CHARGED scenes, that the story builds up to, or really takes off after, something like that? In this film, every single scene is charged, and you know everyone involved just gave it everything they had.
Nicholson plays Melvin Udall, the original can’t live with him can’t live without him man. His insults and facial responses to those around him are enough to sit down and watch just by themselves, their is a fantastic film wrapped around them though. Full of emotion, comedy, some darkness, and superb writing and storytelling. The film won two oscars and was nominated for seven in total. I want to sidetrack quickly just to put the oscars in a bit of perspective.
At the moment of this writing, three films are tied for all time oscar wins, with eleven each. They are Ben Hur, Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King, and Titanic. Titanic had the most nominations ever, with 14. Titanic came out the same year as the film we are reviewing here, and As Good As It Gets deservingly snatched Best Actress and Best Actor from the clutches of that giant, and without even the slightest bit of surprise on the faces of Kate or Leos. They’d both go on to win acting awards later in life, but in 1997, they couldn’t touch Jack Nicholson or Helen Hunt.
As Good As It Gets – Tristar Pictures
As Good As It Gets showcases a peek into the world of a specific and particular man, with his specific and particular world. Nicholson stars in this 1997 nominee for Best Picture, as a renowned author living alone in New York City with severe obsessive compulsive order. He doesn’t like you, he doesn’t like your sweet old grandma, he doesn’t like his neighbors or his doctors or the people who eat at his favorite diner. Just leave him be.
Melvin only like a few things. He likes to write, he likes to live alone, he likes to go to his diner for his one real daily meal, and he likes to outwit and verbally abuse the people around him. The two things he likes the most, are to flirt unsuccessfully with his favorite waitress Carol (Helen Hunt) and spend time with his neighbor’s dog. That’s about it.
Carol has a few big problems of her own too though. I won’t rob you of every single detail in the film, but she is a waitress at a diner and she lives with her mom and has a very sick child. So she hasn’t exactly had the chance to go light the world on fire.
There is one more character who stands out, and while he doesn’t quite get enough focus to be the third lead, he does an awesome job, and really sells pity and self-loathing, with general depression. Greg Kinnear had to go to a dark place to get such raw sadness and emotion for his role as Simon, and while he didn’t win, he was nominated by the Academy too. It was the year Robin Williams won for Good Will Hunting, so hey, what can you do. In a serious movie with some real laughs in the right places, he was what really kept the movie serious and helped organize the darkness needed to find the light.
As the film unfolds we see these stories converge. The characters are all thrust into a situation, and will effect and change each others lives forever. It’s good and bad, parts are easy, and others… very hard.
As Good As It Gets – Tristar Pictures
THE LIST: The Good, The Bad, and The Others.
- The Good
Lots of good things happen in this story. We see characters overcome true struggles. Sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them too, but our characters comes out okay and a little better after having gone through it together. Life isn’t always a box of popcorn. This movie shows us that. We see the folks on screen grow, and change. A focus becomes important and they are all brought together wanting to help themselves, but really by helping each other. Sounds real sweet, doesn’t it? Calm down. This movie is sweet, but in that dark chocolate, lets just get through this thing kinda way. I find myself wanting to listen to Norah Jones afterwards anyways with a big romantic type sigh… yeah I said it.
- The Bad
We see heartache and gut-wrenching reality from each of our characters. In many ways, they are extremely similar; in others, just miles apart. They suffer from situations that are not totally coincidences of anything wrong, but more martyrs of consequence. They each are challenged in difficult ways. One from a crippling disorder, another as the single working parent of an ill child, and thirdly as a man beaten up physically and emotionally from a hard road traveled in an attempt to be okay. They all struggle and at times are victims of circumstance. While this tale boasts good vibes and positive outlooks, sometimes you have to go deeper into the woods to find your way out again.
- The Others
Lots of emotions in this roller-coaster. It was truly cast well, as our actors needed to play off of each other and lend themselves to each others characters, they all would need strength from one another to continue playing these roles. Really, just an impressive variety of feelings. You will definitely laugh, you will get angry and be frightened, feel embarrassed, and empowered. It’s going to be up and down, as this movie really just brings a lot of other things to this table from your typical dramatic film with small humorous anecdotes.
(end of THE LIST)
Lots of movies find their way onto this blog and get a little of our attention. Most of them aren’t as good as this one, though. It was an ensemble that pulled together to make each other better, especially Helen Hunt and Jack Nicholson who again, both won Oscars.
It had something that successful movies sometimes get away without. Chemistry. The Chemistry between the Nicholson, Kinnear, and Hunt was just there. It was fun and funny at times, but mostly it was RAW. I went and watched the oscar acceptance speeches from 1998 to hear how they both felt about winning. They mumbled and bumbled in mostly forgettable speeches. It seemed that they captured this real magic behind the camera, and almost had a shy way about living in the post As Good As It Gets world. They were grateful, but mostly looked stunned. Maybe not by winning, but by slaying the giant Titanic, and truly by the performances they put out. Neither of them every won another Oscar, and even if they do…what they did here, was probably As Good As It Gets. Fantastic film.
