"As Good As It Gets"
Reviewed by Heather Picker
Directed by James L. Brooks. Written by Brooks and Mark Andrus. Starring Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, and Greg Kinnear, with Cuba Gooding, Jr. 1997, 139 min., Rated PG-13.
There were moments during "As Good As It Gets" during which I knew that the film had the potential to live up to its title. Admittedly, the script is among the most sharply written of the 1990s, and probably the best script of 1997. But the movie was longer than it should have been, and awkwardly overly sentimental at times, among other things.
Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) is an obsessive-compulsive romance novelist whose greatest character fault is his bigotry and abrasive personality, most notably his tendency to become verbally abusive towards everyone with whom he crosses paths. A crucial part of his routine is dining at the restaurant where waitress Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) serves him. He brings his own plastic eating utensils, and is gruff towards other patrons, employees, and even Carol, but he is also interested in her.
Carol has difficulties of her own, including the severe asthma that plagues her young son, Spence. She is a single mother, raising Spence in an apartment with her mother Beverly (Shirley Knight), who is unhappy with Carol's unhappiness. "As Good As It Gets" follows the progression of the Melvin/Carol relationship, throwing into the mix Simon Bishop (Greg Kinnear), an artist who lives in the apartment neighboring Melvin's.
Simon is gay, which Melvin makes a point of demeaning, and Simon has a dog, Verdell, who Melvin makes a point of hating (and dumping down garbage chutes). After walking in on a group of young men, the friends of a street hustler (Skeet Ulrich) he has been painting, robbing him, Simon is severely beaten. During his recuperation, Melvin is forced into caring for Verdell, at the behest of Simon's protective art dealer (Cuba Gooding, Jr.). Man and man's best friend bond, as will eventually Melvin and Simon.
As he begins to recover, Simon, emotionally and physically drained, arrives at the conclusion that he should visit his parent's in an attempt to mend fences with the father who has disowned him, and the mother who stands idly by her husband, although she disagrees with him. Oh, yeah, Simon is also going to ask them for money. Melvin is given the great distinction of serving as chauffeur, and asks Carol to join the expedition. She accepts, partly because she is intrigued by Melvin, and partly out of silent obligation. He is, after all, paying for Spence to receive the medical care that Carol and her mother could only dream of before. (He says he is doing it because he needs Carol to be at work so she can cook for him.)
The road trip provides the chance for everyone to get to know each other better, but by the time they're on their way back home, "As Good As It Gets" has run out of steam. There is one ending too many, mainly the Melvin/Carol resolutions that are basically re-treading previous encounters, you'll be thinking to yourself "This seems awfully familiar," because the same things have happened in different settings several times already.
James L. Brooks, who has directed such contemporary classics as "Terms of Endearment" and "Broadcast News," has a style all his own that is easy to recognize, and is in full-form here. The often-sparkling script, courtesy of Mark Andrus and Brooks, is brought vividly to life in three of the best performances of 1997. Nicholson is completely convincing as Melvin, and Hunt is able to display the full range of her talents, which until recently were partly showcased weekly as a mostly comedic actress on NBC's "Mad About You." If you thought she was good in "Mad About You," wait till you see her in this. Greg Kinnear, whom I best remember as the host of the hilarious cable show "Talk Soup", gives a wonderfully nuanced turn as Simon. The supporting players, including Cuba Gooding, Jr., Skeet Ulrich, Shirley Knight, and Yeardley Smith (voice of Lisa on "The Simpsons") are all great.
"As Good As It Gets" is not as good as it gets, but is fitfully within reach of being so. Nicholson and Hunt's Oscar-winning performances (Kinnear was nominated for Supporting Actor) and an often daring and darkly comic script are some of the better things "As Good As It Gets" has to offer, and the only real disappointments are the repetitive incidents and anti-climactic ending (as was the case in "Broadcast News").
© 1999 Heather Picker
E-mail: Ahber16@aol.com
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