The life of Warren Schmidt is a series of predictable events. A rather ordinary man, he has recently retired from his job and now the only excitement he derives from his daily errands comes from the occasional diversion to the local Dairy Queen for a Blizzard. He isn't sure if he has ever loved his wife of 42 years. And, naturally, he lives in Nebraska, the quietest and least noticed of all the States. Describing such a set-up for a film might make it sound convincingly ordinary, but this is not the case for About Schmidt, a film co-written and directed by Alexander Payne. The movie shifts from a self-aggrandizing character study to a clever parable about the search for happiness in life and the struggle to find one's place in the world.
Jack Nicholson plays Schmidt in a role that has received accolades of praise for his glaring restraint and decided un-Jack-ness. To be sure, Nicholson is a joy to watch and it is a great performance, but then again, this is what we have come to expect from the actor. What isn't entirely expected is the way the quirky screenplay begins not only to imprint itself to the viewer, but to allow more and more familiarity as it progresses. For instance, Schmidt does not speak for the first five minutes of the film. We see him, we notice him, we are curious about him, but he does not say anything of note. By the end of the picture, his character has delivered a full-blown monologue that, by omitting certain topics and in his speech, tells everything we need to know about him as a man.
Schmidt is a former insurance actuary who finds comfort in penpal-ing with a Tanzanian foster child named Ndugu. When he is informed by his estranged daughter Jeannie (Hope Davis) that she is about to marry a slimy waterbed salesman (Dermot Mulroney in a deliciously pathetic turn as the aptly-named Randall Hertzel), he decides to take his 35-foot Winnebago Adventurer on the road.
To call the film a road trip movie could perhaps only be true of its mid-section but not its bookends. Schmidt's adventures take him from an upbeat couple who are only too happy to show him their photo album, to a now-infamous hot tub scene with a very-forward mother-of-the-bride (Kathy Bates on familiar footing as the token outspoken character). It is in scenes such as this, or of his daughter's wedding, where the biting irony of family and society is at its most prominent and succulent. The film is acutely aware of the strange and incomprehensible mysteries of daily life.
When it was first released, About Schmidt got a lot of positive advance buzz, but then it unfairly received some critical backlash when it supposedly got too popular for its own good, including some Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. It was labelled manipulative, over-rated and ordinary. Forget all that. If you want to see a delightful, touching, funny, familiar and cathartic motion picture, this is a great place to start.
