A great story with fascinating characters, but a little long

Rating: 9/10 (28 May 2000)

"As Good as It Gets" is one of those really intelligent movies. It's light-hearted without being too much to take, and it has its dose of "reality for a Friday night". Jack Nicholson the obsessive romance writer, Melvin Udall, who lives in an up-scale Manhattan apartment across the hall from a gay artist, Simon Bishop (Greg Kinnear) and his adorable dog, Verdell. Simon is beaten up by robbers, and Melvin, the pessimistic, bitter, complaining, obsessive-compulsive, and prejudicial shut-in, has Simon's dog forced on him, while Simon's still in the hospital. Melvin grows affectionate towards the dog, and the good in him begins to leak out. The story also centralizes around Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt), a waitress at Melvin's only restaurant and who has a chronically sick child, Spencer. The story continues with the three of them traveling together to Simon's parents' house in the south of Baltimore. Melvin almost wins Carol over, but blows it. They come back to New York after the trip with Simon feeling a new sense of hope in his life, as well as Carol. The movie doesn't end there, but I don't want to give away the ending. I will say this, however. Melvin really is a good man on the inside, despite all of his short comings and sardonic remarks. The story is about finding yourself and love in your adulthood, and coming to terms with it. The only grievance I had with the movie was that it kind of went on for too long, but it's definitely worth it.