AS GOOD AS IT GETS ALMOST IS
As Good As It Gets A Film Review By Michael Redman Copyright 1998 By Michael Redman
***1/2 (out of ****)
Finding the courage to face life full-on is a difficult task. Summoning up the audacity to fall in love is a harder job. If you're a total jerk like Melvin Udall is, the odds are even more against you.
Melvin (Jack Nicholson) is a successful romance author who is just the opposite of what you would expect someone in that profession to be. A solitary man hidden away in his New York apartment with no human interaction and not even a hint of ever having been in a passionate relationship, he avoids the outside world as much as possible.
His obsessive-compulsive disorder rules his life as he uses several different bars of soap to wash his hands and refuses to step on a crack on the sidewalk. (There's a great scene when he has to cross a floor made of mosaic tiles -- _very_small_ mosaic tiles.)
Melvin has some great lines. When his publisher's receptionist asks him how he writes women so well in his books, he responds "I think of men and I take away reason and accountability." Don't get him wrong, he's not merely a misogynist. Setting his sights higher than that, he's also a homophobe, racist, anti-Semite, xenophobe, animal-hater and intensely dislikes people who talk in metaphors. When we first meet him, he's busy dumping a neighbor's dog down the garbage chute. He's an equal opportunity bigot.
He does venture outside his apartment every day to eat breakfast at a local cafe. Melvin is such a grouchy curmudgeon that waitress Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) is the only one willing to wait on him. And she's none too happy about it.
When Carol doesn't show up for work, Melvin's routine is shot and he's determined to do something about it. Tracking down her address, he shows up at her place begging her to come back to work so that he can eat breakfast. The fact that she's a poor single mother caring for a chronically ill son doesn't appear to phase him, he wants his food.
Much more upsetting is that his gay artist neighbor Simon Bishop (Greg Kinnear) is brutally attacked during a robbery. This doesn't upset Melvin much ("Don't worry, you'll be back on your knees in no time") but when he is bullied into taking care of Simon's dog, his life is turned topsy-turvey.
Melvin is sequestered because he's afraid of what's out there on the other side of his apartment door. He has to make sure it's ritualistically locked three times to keep the world on its proper side. When he brings the dog home he reluctantly grows fond of it, talking to it and taking it everywhere he goes. This little crack in his emotional armor opens him up.
Hiding behind his need for Carol to return to work so she can serve him, he pays for a specialist to treat her son. He even develops a friendship with Simon.
All three people are heavily damaged. Melvin has retreated from life in his apartment. Carol has devoted herself to her son, convinced that she has to give up her life for him. Simon is estranged from his parents and his friends disappear when he is hospitalized and his money runs out. A more unlikely trio to form relationships, you'd rarely see.
And in the midst of it all, there are some wonderful moments. Melvin is hilarious in his grouchiness and touching as he attempts to be nice. "You make me want to be a better man," he tells her. One of the best aspects is that even as he opens up, he is still a curmudgeon.
Carol, afraid that his monetary contribution to the wellness of her son hides a hidden agenda rushes over to his apartment in the rain to explain in no uncertain terms that she will never sleep with him. It only takes her a second to realize that she is delivering that statement while looking as if she just left a wet t-shirt contest.
There's hardly anything left to say about Jack Nicholson. I don't remember ever seeing him in anything less than a stellar performance and his over-the-edge Melvin is no disappointment. Nicholson may be the best actor working today.
Hunt does a commendable job matching Nicholson's energy. She isn't afraid to be seen as something less than a babe and her portrayal of exhausted run-down Carol struggling with seemingly overwhelming obligations is top-notch.
Their on-screen chemistry is a bit odd. Each does a wonderful job with the character, but together, there's something a little off. It's a minor problem: they do work well together, but that missing element is what prevents this from being a four-star film.
Director James L. Brooks ("Terms Of Endearment", "Broadcast News") has a movie that is picking up awards by the bucketsful (nominees for all the top Golden Globes, winners from the National Board Of Review, inevitable Oscars) and has a winner on his hands.
"As Good As It Gets" isn't exactly the quality that the title says, but it's pretty darn close.
(Michael Redman has written this column for over 22 years and as soon as he finishes this one, he's off to an annual 12 Night celebration typically held in freezing weather during a snowstorm. This year it's in the sixties and raining. That wacky El Nino.)
[This appeared in the 1/8/98 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be contacted at redman@bvoice.com]
-- mailto:redman@bvoice.com This week's film review at http://www.bvoice.com/ Film reviews archive at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Michael%20Redman
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