|
About
Schmidt gives Nicholson chance for 12th Oscar statue Sports Editor
Although
it may be early to plan your Christmas break, one movie that should be
watched by everyone is About Schmidt. Warren
Schmidt, who is played brilliantly by Jack Nicholson, is a man who has
just retired and while coming to terms with this, his wife (little-known
stage actress June Squibb) suddenly dies. Schmidt is left alone in his
house with a 35-foot Winnebago his wife, Helen, nagged him to buy, and a
daughter who is about to marry a waterbed salesman who has a mullet for
a haircut. Would
you think such a movie would be really deep? Well, it has so many levels
that seeing it once will just scratch the surface of what is really
going on in the movie. Maybe one of the reasons it has so many levels is
because it is the same writer/director who did Election,
Alexander Payne, and co-screenwriter, Jim Taylor. The
movie on one level is about how Schmidt tries to find himself by
traveling cross country in a Winnebago. At least that is what the movie
company is saying about it. The real plot to the story, as I see it, is
how Schmidt goes through the grieving process. Schmidt
becomes unmoored once his wife is gone and does basically nothing for
weeks on end. He only leaves when he needs to go buy groceries, which he
takes his Winnebago to the store. In
Schmidt's cross country travel, he goes from Omaha to Denver and
everywhere in between. His travels takes Schmidt from a museum with the
largest arrowhead collection, to his childhood home that was turned into
a tire shop. Schmidt
decides to talk his daughter out of her upcoming nuptials, which he
fails at miserably. After doing so, he stays with his future in-laws
(Kathy Bates and Howard Hesseman) and sleeps on his future son-in-law's
waterbed, throwing his back out. This brings up the worst part of the
movie. While trying to get his back better, Schmidt gets into the hot
tub, and then Bates surprises him, and the audience, by diving in. Bates,
who helps keep this movie going as well as Nicholson, does one of her
best performances and she could pick up a best-supporting actress Oscar.
One reviewer said Bates gives "her most energetic performance in
years." This I agree with. All the actors in this movie, from the
mullet-clad Bermot Mulroney to the daughter played by Hope Davis, give
some of their best performances. In
the climax of the movie, Schmidt is giving a toast at the wedding, but
does not go off on the son-in-law or his family. Lou Lumenick, who wrote
a review for the New York Post, said, "The film's climax at
Jeannie's wedding reception - while true to Schmidt's character - is far
less satisfying than it would have been if Nicholson were finally
permitted to cut loose in his trademark style." I
disagree wholeheartedly. The movie would have lost a lot if Nicholson
was allowed to go off half-cocked on everybody. I really don't think
that was the climax. Maybe the very end was the climax. At
the end, Schmidt receives a letter from a nun who takes care of Ndugu (a
boy he adopted through ChildReach or some organization like that). The
one thing which keeps this movie going and not get too boring is the
on-screen narrative to Ndugu. By far, these moments are the best part of
the movie. You
might not get the same depth I did, but it is a thinking movie - you
have to think about it to understand it. Go see About Schmidt
when it comes out nationwide on Friday, Jan. 3 and in select cities on
Friday, Dec. 13. It is definitely an Oscar contender for best picture
and best actor for Nicholson, probably one of his best performances. By the way, see it because it premiered at the New York Film Festival, which is rare enough. I give it five out of five stars - excellent, excellent movie. |