Release Date: December 13, 2002
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, Kathy Bates, Howard Hesseman
Directed by: Alexander Payne
Written by: Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
MPAA Rating: R (language, brief nudity)
Some would say that About Schmidt is Jack Nicholson's comeback film, but I would reply that he never really left. Time and again, audiences have seen his extraordinary range and dedication in his roles in movies like Easy Rider, Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, A Few Good Men, and most recently, As Good As it Gets. He commits to every performance, and he flawlessly draws from a mix of his familiar self and something unique for every character he plays.
Of course, a downside to his enormous star power is that the audience has become aware of Nicholson the actor behind every character, costume, and makeup job. But this doesn't mean he isn't as convincing or entertaining as he was in his younger years, and indeed, About Schmidt is entertaining because of his performance alone.
Here, he plays the title character, Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson), an insurance actuary on the verge of retirement. After settling into a life of afternoon naps and carefree days, he realizes that his life has been unfulfilling and he's lost all care for his wife Helen (June Squibb). Then, when Helen suddenly dies and Warren's daughter Jeannie (Hope Davis) gets engaged to a waterbed salesman named Randall (Dermot Mulroney), Schmidt is left with emptiness inside -- not to mention an intense dislike of his daughter's new fiancé. So he sets out on the road in his Winnebago to stop his daughter's wedding, and, along the way, to get a new perspective on life.
Nicholson has played the eccentric, the wise, the insane, the cool, and the bigoted, and his role in Schmidt is yet another career development (or perhaps just all of the above): the retired. He's a man looking back on his years, assessing the ups and downs of his life, at the age when someone has the experience to go through that final transformation. In some ways, this is similar to Nicholson himself, who has experienced many things throughout his films and been around long enough to produce a new image himself. Indeed, Nicholson plays the character using his own life as a backbone in order to truly understand the failure that rests in Warren's heart.
The drawback, typical of most Nicholson films, is that it becomes all about Jack and not about the other characters, or even what the story is about. For Warren Schmidt, it appears that nothing he did in his life has mattered to date, and though Nicholson plays it well with a simple twist of humor, the themes of an unlived life don't resonate like his performance.
Nevertheless, writer-director Alexander Payne (Election) knows how to get the most from his actors, and Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, and the talented Kathy Bates, who plays Randall's mother, all turn in key supporting performances. The three of them are up to the task of equaling Nicholson's screen presence. Davis has a grounding nature as the only emotional attachment Warren has left, while Mulroney is creative in playing the uneducated but sympathetic nitwit.
Bates, meanwhile, adds another touch to her never-ending list of accomplishments as an actress -- from Misery to Fried Green Tomatoes to Primary Colors, she, like Nicholson, has dedicated herself to bringing out the most from her characters through occasionally extreme means. In Schmidt, it's no different, and her hot tub scene will go down as one of the most memorable of her career.
The story, adapted by Payne and his writing partner Jim Taylor from Louis Begley's novel of the same name, was obviously pieced together in a way that would bring the most out of Jack Nicholson. From some writers it might be hard to write a lot of seemingly typical exposition and self-reflection in a new way, but Payne and Taylor found a way. Through stories of Warren's adoption of a poor Tanzanian boy to his journey across Nebraska, Payne and Taylor go to the extreme to bring out the unique character of Warren Schmidt.
The combination of Nicholson's performance and Payne's direction touches the heart, tickles that funny bone, and enlightens the mind. And even though most of the viewers that will watch About Schmidt probably have more of their life left to life than Warren Schmidt does, the movie teaches the lesson that it is never too early to live a life that matters.
all contents © 2002 Michael J. Eiff