Waltertainment

ABOUT SCHMIDT (***1/2)
Starring Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Kathy Bates
Directed by Alexander Payne (Citizen Ruth, Election)

Review by Walter

SHORT OF IT: Good character study to contrast with all the big budget movies
of the season although it may drag in the middle for some. If you're looking
for a small movie that gets to know it's central character with a terrific
poignant ending, this is it.

LONG OF IT: Jack Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt. At the onset of the film
he waits for the clock to tick to 5 O'clock to start his retirement at 66
from 30 years with the insurance company. His retirement party is no big
deal. His replacement doesn't need his help. He's annoyed by this fat lady
in his house that he's been married to for 42 years. So goes the beginning
of retirement for Warren Schmidt; void of meaning and purpose.

Schmidt does find a small purpose when he sees one of those Childreach
commercials where you can sponsor a starving child for $22/month. Schmidt is
encouraged to write to the boy so he pours out his heart to a 6 year old
African boy who undoubtedly won't know what the hell Schmidt bitches about
concerning insurance companies, his daughter's idiot fiance' etc. The movie
uses this device to provide Schmidt's voice over as we get to know what's in
his heart and mind.

He and his wife plan a vacation in one of those monster 35 foot Winnebagos.
Soon after, Schmidt's wife dies. Now that his daughter is the only thing
left that has any meaning he sets out on a road trip to convince her to dump
her loser fiance' before the wedding.

In the middle, the story slows a bit as we go from vignette to vignette
where we learn that Schmidt's having a twilight of life crisis of sorts. His
childhood home has been bulldozed for a tire store. He realizes he took his
wife for granted. A new friend at a trailer park even tells him beneath the
optimistic facade he's "a sad sad man."

The laughs pick up when he gets to Denver for his daughter's wedding. It's
official. Her fiance' is a loser and his family is a bunch of weirdos. Kathy
Bates is great as an over sexed mother in law. And dude, we get to see her
naked in a hot tub.

Alexander Payne provides a lot of subtle snickers and a handful of
situational laughs. But the kudos belong to Jack Nicholson. He does a great
job of playing an everyman at the end of his days with nowhere left to go
and maybe not having gotten anywhere in the first place.

We really do connect with his emptiness, sadness and loneliness. Even his
daughter, who alleges that Schmidt's only taken an interest in lately, is
understandably put-off at the mention of dumping her fiance'.

Schmidt reveals to his African "adopted son" that when he dies and everyone
he knows dies that there will be no evidence of his existence. In other
words, his life nor nothing he's done has meant a damn thing. Make no
mistake, this movie is rooted in a sort of sad introspection but it has it's
share of laughs, albeit not a wall to wall comedy.

But the real brilliance of the movie is what it leaves you with. The part
that makes up for the movie's deficiencies isn't revealed until the moving,
tearjerking final shot where we understand what he's feeling and whether
it's justified or not. I'm a big fan of poignant endings (Sixth Sense, Good
Will Hunting, Schindler's List). I walked out of the film moved by that
final note and that's saying a lot for a movie without massive battles, cops
and criminals or Jennifer Lopez.