Nicholson subtle, yet powerful in 'Schmidt'
When I walked into the local Cineplex over the weekend, I brought
with me a dose of skepticism about the film that I was about to
watch. After all, how could a movie about a retired insurance actuary
making a cross-country tour in his Winnebago be the stuff of Golden
Globe nominations and Oscar buzz?
But only a short while into "About Schmidt," I was a believer.
Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates have done it again.
Nicholson, who plays Warren Schmidt, delivers a subtle, yet
powerful performance as a man who looks back at a lifetime of playing
it safe and realizes that he has never done anything of any value.
Schmidt decides that he must take up a cause and eventually sets
out in his 35-foot Winnebago Adventurer to save his only daughter,
Jeannie (Hope Davis), from marrying a mullet-haired waterbed salesman
and pyramid scheme promoter named Randall (Dermot Mulroney).
Along the way, Schmidt writes letters to a 6-year-old Tanzanian
orphan named Ndugu, whom he "adopted" for $22 a month after seeing an
ad on television.
Schmidt doesn't pull any punches as he fills little Ndugu in on
his thoughts about the young punk who took his position at the
insurance company, the life he can't stand anymore and the good for
nothing "nincompoop" that his daughter is about to marry. The tragic
comedy of Schmidt's life is presented to the audience and Ndugu
throughout the film in these letters.
After several hilarious misadventures in the RV parks, small towns
and kooky tourist attractions across America's heartland, Schmidt
finds his way to the home of Roberta, the mother of the groom-to-be
played by Kathy Bates. Bates, who has made a career out of playing
quirky characters, outdoes herself in this role. She even goes as far
as a nude scene in which her character tries to seduce a horrified
Schmidt in her Jacuzzi.
I won't tell you how the wedding turns out for the same reason
that I have purposely left out the comic twists encountered
throughout the film.
"About Schmidt" is a film filled with rich characters who cannot
be done justice and great dark humor that would only be spoiled by
such a cursory review. Go see "About Schmidt" for yourself and see
what all the buzz is about.
* RYAN GILMORE is a Costa Mesa resident and movie fan.
Gere shines in the offstage 'Chicago'
Stage director/choreographer Rob Marshall's adaptation of Bob
Fosse's critically acclaimed 1975 Broadway musical, "Chicago," is
part Hollywood, part Broadway, but all show business and then some.
