James L. Brooks directs As Good As It Gets, a rom-com which follows the life of Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson), a verbally vicious writer who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. When local waitress Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) has to take time off work (due to her son's chronic asthma) from Melvin's favourite eating spot, Melvin's necessary routine is all but ruined with his main priority centring around getting things back to normal. Things get worse for Melvin when his neighbour, gay artist Simon Bishop (Greg Kinnear), ends up hospitalised, meaning Melvin is required to take care of Simon's dog Verdell. Will these new relationships change things for Melvin? He hopes not.
As Good As It Gets is filled with quick, hilarious dialogue and great character acting, but in terms of direction and writing, it is too long. With a great opening and ending, the middle third of the film, especially the segment surrounding Simon being forced to go and ask his parents for money, slows down the whole pace completely; and with a solid finish lined up at around 80-90 mintues, it seems that it just indulges itself and carries on for another hour, magically allowing each of the main characters to have moments of self-discovery.
Although overlong, Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt rightly win Oscars for their phenomenal performances. Jack is unrelenting in his verbal attacks, completely self indulgent and utterly convincing. Helen Hunt portrays the working class single mum superbly, delivering a character that seems so knowledgeable about the world yet so frustrated with it. The pair light up the screen when acting together. Greg Kinnear also gives a solid performance, showing that he is a great character actor.
Phenomenal acting performances in a film that could easily finish at 90 minutes.
J.Henderson.
7/10.
Unfortunate fact Nicholson has made the role so cartoonish. Our patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are very far from being caricatured as aggressive and Udall. Indeed, Jack never got rid of tics who persecute since the composition of the character in the movie "The Shining." Maybe it's an issue towards the actor. The fact is that years later an actor who does not have much recognition as an interpreter, Leonardo Di Caprio, was perfect when interpreting a patient with OCD in the movie "The Aviator." However, he was under the direction of Scorsese unbeatable. Yes this interpretation is in line with what happens in the everyday life of OCD patients that we treat. Furthermore, as you stressed, very long ...
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