About "About Schmidt"…
Each March, Jane and I go to an Oscar Party hosted by our friends Scott and Renee. Although we both enjoy movies, we’ve found that one of the sacrifices of having children was that we tend to see movies well after they are released (if at all). So, it is a special treat indeed to be able to catch a film in the theatre. Whenever that rare opportunity presents itself, we try to see something that will be a factor at the Oscars, so we at least can have some opinion on the matters at hand (and some chance to win the "Guess The Winners" game.)
Friday night, we caught "About Schmidt" with our friends Brad and Katy. I won’t mention many of the plot details, but it’s not a plot-driven film, so I doubt that would spoil matters much for anyone.
Basically, Jack Nicholson plays a rather unremarkable man who has reached the point in his life where things start to wind down. Relationships change or end for various reasons, and unfortunately, many people find themselves very much alone at a time in their life when they need people more than ever. Nicholson is Warren Schmidt, who is in the process of outliving the important connections in his life. More or less, that’s what the movie is about.
Nicholson is a unique actor. He’s been in so many memorable movies and roles, many of which feature his over-the-top charisma. Even when he’s just trying to play a regular 66 year old man, you still see moments when he’s "being Nicholson". I’m not sure how much of that is baggage (most of it good) that I carry in from having seen so much of Nicholson in other films, or how much is Nicholson himself. Overall, Nicholson is great. He doesn’t ham it up. He’s just a guy. And that’s exactly what this movie needs. Nicholson will probably play a few more traditional "leading man" roles, but in this movie, we see him as we’ve never seen him before: frail, shuffling, nearing the end. It’s a powerful vision, not only because of his understated performance, but because many of us will also play the role in our own lives, or see someone we love play the role.
"About Schmidt" is full of great little moments, like when Nicholson is driving around the Midwest in his RV. You see highways in Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado. You see sunny skies and white puffy clouds. You see green fields and muddy roads after a rainstorm. Maybe it’s just because I’m a Midwest kid, but those scenes really hit home for me.
There are some other treasures in the film, most notably Kathy Bates. First of all, bravo to her for doing a nude scene that is pretty funny in the context of the film. If there were an Oscar for Best Use Of Profanity, she would get my vote.
This isn’t a movie for everybody; not much "happens". It’s also probably not a great movie for the recently widowed, or the excessively lonely. This isn’t a movie you will go to for an escape from reality. This movie is like a fortuneteller, showing us a world that probably a lot of us either do or will understand in one form or another, but don’t like to think about. Sometimes, our lives wind down, and we lose our connections to other people. It might take us by surprise, or we might never notice it at all. But it happens every day. I like that Hollywood is still willing to make a movie like this.
You have to leave your cynicism at the door, but I thought the last scene was particularly powerful.
