About Schmidt
Yesterday I stopped by an old friend’s house and watched About Schmidt. I didn’t know too much about the movie other than I had heard it wasn’t that funny and it was actually kind of depressing. Unphased by these comments, I decided to watch the movie anyway.
The basic premise of the film revolves around Warren Schmidt, played by Jack Nickolson, who has just retired from his job in insurance. With tons of free time now at his disposal he analysis his life, deciding that it has been a complete failure. He feels that nothing he has done has left an impact, he’s unhappy with his wife, and to top everything off his daughter is engaged to an idiot. When his wife suddenly dies he is left completely alone and decides to go on a road trip to convince his daughter not to marry her fiancé.
Early in the film Schmidt decides to sponsor a small African boy after seeing a commercial on TV about starving children. Along with the checks he sends to the boy, Schmidt writes letters which serve as his narration of the story and help the audience understand what his character is going through. I really liked this idea because the narration only occurred every so often and made it much more believable. It was also somewhat comical because Schmidt’s character is not only sarcastic, but he is writing to a small boy in Africa about his problems as a sixty year-old man which is kind of funny in itself.
I think what I liked most about this film was that it felt very real. There was nothing extraordinary about any of the characters; they were all very simple and believable. I imagine that Schmidt’s struggle to deal with his self-described, unremarkable life is quite commonplace and a source of internal conflict for many.
I also felt that the comedy in this movie was very real. The scenes didn’t seem forced and contrived like so many comical moments in movies are; most of the time it was only a subtle facial expression or an awkward situation you could relate to.
Needless to say, the performances in this movie are fantastic. Nickolson does a great job as do the rest of the cast. So many times he’s been these very powerful characters, like in The Shining or As Good as It Gets, and I thought it was cool to see him play a role where he’s a normal guy with normal problems. Kathy Bates also does a great job as the mother of the fiancé.
Without giving too much of the movie away, I thought the last scene was moving and really summed up what the film was about. Although it isn’t expressed through any dialog, I think Schmidt begins to understand what the audience should have been thinking throughout the entire movie.
While I can see why a lot of people wouldn’t like this movie I found it entertaining and thought provoking. It’s an interesting look at one man’s struggle to deal with what he perceives to be his failure of a life; his failure as a husband, as a father, and as a member of the community.