AS GOOD AS IT GETS (1997)
A film review by Steve Kong Copyright 1998 Steve Kong
As Good As It Gets is a wonderful "feel good" movie. The wonderful part of As Good As It Gets is that it is a "feel good" movie about a rotten guy.
Melvin (Jack Nicholson) is an obsessive-compulsive guy who whenever he opens his mouth spews an insult. Melvin is an accomplished author, but there's no helping this guy, is there? The thing that starts a chain of events that changes Melvin is a cute scene stealing dog. Melvin is a homophobic person, so he dislikes his neighbour, a gay painter, Simon (Greg Kinnear). And when the film opens, Melvin (a very reclusive man) also hates Simon's dog. But, after some things happen, Melvin is stuck with Simon's dog, which starts the changing of Melvin. And Melvin starts to take interest in Carol (Helen Hunt) the waitress at the restaurant where Melvin eats all the time.
Jack Nicholson is just hilarious as the poison-tongued Melvin. Nicholson is about to portray Melvin as a guy who just can't say something good, but we can all see that he really does want to. Helen Hunt is also great as Carol, the waitress who is really doesn't know what to do with Melvin. Carol seems to understand Melvin and unlike others, she has a good temperance and is patient with Melvin. Simon has his own troubles and we see how the Melvin changes slowly and begins to accept Simon more. Greg Kinnear gives a good performance as Simon. Worth mentioning is Cuba Gooding Jr. who is Frank, Simon's art dealer, and watch for Gooding Jr.'s performance.
What surprised me a bit was the score for the film. The score comes from Hans Zimmer, and it is, at least to me, something completely different from what he's done before. The score is light but very likeable. It is different from his other scores in that it isn't a pulse pounding score. It is rather good and different from his last few scores which sounded the same (The Peacemaker, The Rock, and Broken Arrow.)
As Good As It Gets is a bit long, but, it is entertaining enough not to put anyone to sleep. The thing that drives As Good As It Gets is the characters. The characters are well written and I just wanted to see what they were going to do or say next. The story is somewhat predictable, but that's OK, the characters are good enough to carry the film. As Good As It Gets got me to laugh out loud quite a few times, and it was from Nicholson's performance. He is the one to see the movie for.
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steve kong reviews@boiled.sbay.org
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