Cheap About Schmidt (DVD) (Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney) (Alexander Payne) Price

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Customer Reviews of About Schmidt

A subtle,poignant film
About Schmidt is not a film for everyone.It's a film that involves some thinking on your part, and its portrayl of the everyday life of a recently retired suburban man comes off as pretty bleak and hopeless.Jack Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, the man above.Following his retirement, he begins to feel as though his entire life has been meaningless."When I die,what will prove that I ever existed?" He's bored with his wife, his daughter(Hope Davis) is about to marry dim witted, but well-meaning water bed salesman out in Denver called Randall Hurtzel(Dermot Mulroney, unrecognizable).He has nothing to do, and nothing to look forward to.So he starts writing letters and sending out monthly donations to a starving six year old boy, through one of those help-a-kid funds you see on tv.Out of nowhere, his wife dies, leaving Schmidt more alone then he could have ever dreamed to be.He begins to realize how little he appreciated his wife when he still had her, and what a great woman she truly was.Warren decides to take a road trip in his trailer all the way to Denver, in time for his daughter's wedding.He has a few lightly humorous encounters on the way.Upon arriving to his daughter's fiancee's family home, he is overwhelmed by their low-class,over the top crazy antics.Greeted by Randal's nutsy mother(played with rich humor and gusto by Kathy Bates).There are some truly laugh-out loud,unforgettable moments during Schmidt's stay.Warren is deeply concerned with her daughter's choice in marrying this guy, but despite Schmidt's frim protests, his daughter refuses to change her mind.Following the wedding, Warren heads back home, and film draws to its very subtle,but touching conclusion .

I can see why someone would call this film depressing-its strarkly realistic in depicting the monotony of being an old and lonely man.But if you really look at this film, you can see that by the end, our man has found some small redemption,has laid down a little bit of proof, that yes, he once existed.Once you think about it, this facet of the movie becomes clear.

Jack Nicholson is brilliant in a wonderfully subdued performance.He isn't just portraying Schmidt, he really is this man.He's bitter, and alone, and realistically flawed, but in the end, entirely human, totally believable and undeniable tender.He gets excellent support from the ENTIRE cast.Every single person in this film is pitch perfect, from Hope Davis who plays Schmidt's cold and contemptuous daughter, to Kathy Bates, totally winning in a brashly humorous role.

About Schmidt takes a while to understand because it doesn't give away all its meanings.But About Schmidt is a film with great meaning, and the subtle details it provides throughout make it a worthwile experience.

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Jack Nicholson shines in this role of an aging retiree
Jack Nicholson was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in this 2002 film and I can well understand why. For years we've seen him play charismatic roles, with an energy that just leaps from the screen. In this role, however, he's cast as Warren Schmidt, a colorless retiree with an awkward gait and a withdrawn personality.

When his wife dies suddenly, Schmidt is left floundering. He's lonely and bored and depressed. His only outlet seems to be the long letters he writes to an African child who he is sponsoring from a children's charity. He spills out his guts to this child, as he gropes to make some sense out of his life.

When he discovers an unhappy truth about his deceased wife, he is spurred into action and sets out on a journey, trying to go back to his childhood home but finding an America that is now mostly shopping malls. Eventually, he gets to Denver, a few days before his daughter's wedding to a young man he considers a nincompoop. Kathy Bates is cast as the young man's mother and she, too, was nominated for an academy award for her performance. She's a divorcee who can be warm and hospitable, but who can also be cruel and impatient with her ex-husband. She's a product of "new age" thinking and, in one of the only real comical scenes of the film, Schmidt finds himself in a hot tub with her making romantic overtures to him.

The film is slow, but that is in keeping with the theme. The cinematography is excellent. I really got a feel of the flat and bleak area of the country, which so reflects the personality of the Jack Nicholson character and the kind of angst that is so endemic in our culture. Well worth seeing. Recommended.

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One of the best movies of all time
"About Schmidt" is, simply put, a milestone in American cinema. Coming off "Election," which was quite possibly the funniest movie of all time, director Alexander Payne delivered another classic here, but one of a different stripe. With Jack Nicholson delivering a performance that's somehow both low-key and passionate, this character study relentlessly examines the darker side of human existence, plumbing the depths of despair and hopelessness. However, the central character isn't a serial killer, a sex offender, or some similar paragon of depravity. Instead, he's a quiet, 66-year-old newly retired actuary from Nebraska named Warren Schmidt. That's what really makes this movie so depressing: someday, maybe not too far off, any of us could wind up like this movie's antihero, retired, widowed, and feeling useless.

Alexander Payne's portrait of Midwestern suburban life is almost unrelentingly bleak, following its main character around and focusing on all the tiny indignities that steadily pile up on him. The relentlessly self-analytical Warren has examined his life in search of some higher purpose, and he's come up lacking. Looking back he can see only missed opportunities and pointless toil, and looking ahead he only glimpses loneliness and impending death. He has only two things left that give his life any semblance of meaning: his attempts to prevent his beloved daughter from marrying a mulleted, fu-manchued waterbed salesman named Randall; and Ndugu, the Tanzanian orphan whom he starts supporting financially early in the movie. Warren's letters to Ndugu serve as a perfect framing device, providing a window to the internal conflicts that roil beneath his quiet exterior.

Since the monstrous shadow of "Election" looms over this movie for its entire two hours, comparisons are all but inevitable, and I might as well make mine now. Both movies are allegorical tales set in white-bread Nebraska locales, but "Election" is a screwball comedy anchored by a serious plot, while "About Schmidt" is a dark tale of quiet desparation and self-reflection with some offbeat humor mixed in. It's a good thing there are some laughs here too, or I might have wound up trying to hang myself with my belt after I first saw the movie. Most of the humor to be found come from Dermot Mulroney's clueless Randall and, of course, Kathy Bates as Randall's mildly deranged motormouth of a mother. Bates practically steals the show during her limited screen time, as her character's sincerity, her brutal honesty, and above all her tendency to reveal excessive details provides a much-needed counterpoint to Nicholson's reserve and bitterness.

While I'll be the first to admit that "About Schmidt" isn't an easy movie to watch, it's not supposed to be. What makes this such a rewarding movie is the challenge of watching such a thoroughly unremarkable man for two hours, following along with his path through despair, self-discovery, and ultimately a measure of redemption. Sure, Warren Schmidt's just a retired geezer from Nebraska, but his sufferings are more universal than they may appear at first. Warren's experiences make for such fascinating viewing precisely because there are so many people like him out there.