As Good As It Gets

[Flopper]

Saw this movie some years and really liked it. Saw it a few days ago and enjoyed it just as much the second viewing as the first.

This is the tale of Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) an obsessive-compulsive writer of romantic fiction who's rude to everyone he meets, including his gay neighbor Simon (Greg Kinnear), but when he has to look after Simon's dog, he begins to soften and, if still not completely over his problems, finds he can conduct a relationship with the only waitress (Helen Hunt) at the local diner who'll serve him.

Both funny and sad, the comedy was in the vein of Brooks' Terms of Endearment, except it was more eccentric and nuttier and in moments genuinely touching due to strong chemistry between Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.


If you haven't seen it you should give it a try. It's available on Netflix and Prime.

As Good as It Gets | Rotten Tomatoes

Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) is an obsessive-compulsive writer of romantic fiction who's rude to everyone he meets, including his gay neighbor Simon (Greg Kinnear), but when he has to look after Simon's dog, he begins to soften and, if still not completely over his problems, finds he can...

www.rottentomatoes.com

 

[JoeMoma]

I don't ever remember seeing this movie. That being said, for some reason I find large age differences in romantic relationships odd if not disturbing. Jack Nicholson is 26 years older than Helen Hunt. I don't know what the age difference was suppose to be for the characters they played in the movie, but I assume it's in the same ball park.

Just think, when jack was 30, Helen was only 4.

 

[toobfreak]

Anger Management was a similarly good movie.

 

[DudleySmith]

Nicholson is always good at portraying believable characters. I still think Hoffman and Streep are our best living actors overall but even they can't play many of the niche roles Nicholson has.

 

[Flopper]

I don't ever remember seeing this movie. That being said, for some reason I find large age differences in romantic relationships odd if not disturbing. Jack Nicholson is 26 years older than Helen Hunt. I don't know what the age difference was suppose to be for the characters they played in the movie, but I assume it's in the same ball park.

Just think, when jack was 30, Helen was only 4.

Jack Nicholson can get away with this because he's been playing an old letcher when he was half his age. However, in this movie age was certainly not a factor because his obsessive compulsive rude behavior made him unfit for any type of personal relationship regardless of his age.

The movie was successful because a little dog started Nicholson on a path that just might make him able to have a personal relationship with another human. Although this is pure fantasy, this is Hollywood where anything can happen. And this is the magic that made this movie a hit.

Unless, you really hate Nicholson, which many people do, you should give this movie try. You just might like it.

BTW Tom Cruise is 59 and most of his female costars are 25 to 30 years his junior.

 

[Flopper]

Anger Management was a similarly good movie.

Take away the obsessive compulsive behavior and the roles are very similar. This is because Jack Nicholson developed a screen personality in his early roles and has kept that personal through most of his movies. He does play against type occasionally but typically he does not vary his performances very much.

Developing a screen persona and sticking to it was common in older movies and encouraged by the studios for their stars, for example Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Joan Crawford, Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, etc.. Nicholson is a great performer but not really a great actor. To me great acting is being able to delivery a great performance while shaping your personality to fit the role, not the reverse.

Great acting is playing Benjamin, a college grad with low self-esteem returning home with an uncertain future and more uncertain about the sexy Mrs. Robinson, his neighbor and then two years later playing Ratso, a crippled con man and a pimp in Midnight Cowboy. And then playing an out of work actor who plays a women to get work and becomes a star followed by a young autistic young man who is continually getting his brother in trouble and a dozens other diverse rolls.

 

[toobfreak]

Nicholson is a great performer but not really a great actor.

That is probably true, but I still consider Jack one of the great classic performers of all time! And he hasn't gone stupid like DeNiro. It may all be a locked performance but the screen persona Jack has developed is a great one that suits a lot of movies.

Jack is always in danger of losing it, and his attraction is watching how close to the edge he can get. Let's face it, not many these days (if any) can do what Jack does best.

I mean, just sitting there doing nothing smoking a cigarette looking at you, you don't know if Jack is happy with you, mad, going to hug and kiss you, yell at you or stab and shoot you.

I'd hate to have to play poker with the guy.

I read once that Nicholson took a lot of LSD as a kid. That was probably the wellspring from whence he gets his insanity.

 

[Flopper]

That is probably true, but I still consider Jack one of the great classic performers of all time! And he hasn't gone stupid like DeNiro. It may all be a locked performance but the screen persona Jack has developed is a great one that suits a lot of movies.

Jack is always in danger of losing it, and his attraction is watching how close to the edge he can get. Let's face it, not many these days (if any) can do what Jack does best.

I mean, just sitting there doing nothing smoking a cigarette looking at you, you don't know if Jack is happy with you, mad, going to hug and kiss you, yell at you or stab and shoot you.

I'd hate to have to play poker with the guy.



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I read once that Nicholson took a lot of LSD as a kid. That was probably the wellspring from whence he gets his insanity.

The actors we love are not necessarily the greatest actors. What we love about them is there on screen persona such as Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, Will Smith, Leonardo Decaprio, Harrison Ford, Meryl Streep, Robin Williams,Denzel Washington, George Cloney, Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery, Sylvester Stalone, Audrey Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Kathern Hepburn, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, etc.

I believe the greatest actors over the last 75 years are: Laurence Olivier, Al Puceno, Gary Oldman, Leonardo Decaprio, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, Marlon Brando, Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Day-Lewis, & Williem Dafoe, Ingrid Bergman, Robert Donat, and Kathern Hepburn.

 

[toobfreak]

The actors we love are not necessarily the greatest actors. What we love about them is there on screen persona such as Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, Will Smith, Leonardo Decaprio, Harrison Ford, Meryl Streep, Robin Williams,Denzel Washington, George Cloney, Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery, Sylvester Stalone, Audrey Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Kathern Hepburn, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, etc.

I believe the greatest actors over the last 75 years are: Laurence Olivier, Al Puceno, Gary Oldman, Leonardo Decaprio, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, Marlon Brando, Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Day-Lewis, & Williem Dafoe, Ingrid Bergman, Robert Donat, and Kathern Hepburn.

You have some interesting names in there, of course, I might add a few others. Dustin Hoffman caught my eye at an early age in particular for then-current actors, and I always thought he brought a unique quality and realism to everything he did missing in Hollywood today.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Saw this movie some years and really liked it. Saw it a few days ago and enjoyed it just as much the second viewing as the first.

This is the tale of Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) an obsessive-compulsive writer of romantic fiction who's rude to everyone he meets, including his gay neighbor Simon (Greg Kinnear), but when he has to look after Simon's dog, he begins to soften and, if still not completely over his problems, finds he can conduct a relationship with the only waitress (Helen Hunt) at the local diner who'll serve him.

Both funny and sad, the comedy was in the vein of Brooks' Terms of Endearment, except it was more eccentric and nuttier and in moments genuinely touching due to strong chemistry between Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.


If you haven't seen it you should give it a try. It's available on Netflix and Prime.

As Good as It Gets | Rotten Tomatoes

Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) is an obsessive-compulsive writer of romantic fiction who's rude to everyone he meets, including his gay neighbor Simon (Greg Kinnear), but when he has to look after Simon's dog, he begins to soften and, if still not completely over his problems, finds he can...

www.rottentomatoes.com

"How do you know women so well?"

"I think of a man, and I remove reason and accountability"

 

[Flopper]

You have some interesting names in there, of course, I might add a few others. Dustin Hoffman caught my eye at an early age in particular for then-current actors, and I always thought he brought a unique quality and realism to everything he did missing in Hollywood today.

Dustin Hoffman is no doubt one of the great actors of today although he has faded a bit with age. He and Jack Nicholson are both 84. Much of Hoffman's work now is in supporting rolls.

His greatest strength is his ability to transform himself into characters as well as molding those characters so well that they surpass anything else in the film. This ability has created a lot of problems for himself in working with directors and other actors and has earned him the reputation of being hard to work with.

On the set of Kramer vs Kramer, Maryl Streep's first staring role and the first shooting, Hoffman slaps Streep so hard she nearly fell down which was not in the script. Throughout the film, he would stop the shooting because he wanted to make changes or was not satisfied with his or other actors performance. Such events were common in many of his films. Sydney Pollack once commented that he wasn't sure he would every finish Tootsie because of Hoffman's constant interruptions. However, he also said that Hoffman had an uncanny ability to improve scenes on the fly.

Both Nicholson and Hoffman have been able to pick the kind rolls they like. Nicholson is worth 400 million and Hoffman over a 100 million.