Ineot romantic comedy.

Rating: 2/10 (2 February 2001)

Curmudgeonly romantic novellist, Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson [sic!]) blames his rude disposition on his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder until he falls in love with put-upon waitress, Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) who leaves him in no doubt that the way to her heart is via a complete change in his: and that means becoming friends with Simon Bishop (Greg Kinnear); a struggling, gay artist on the brink of a nervous breakdown as a result of a vicious aggravated burglary.
The above says it all really... American producers have rarely been able to (and never will on the whole) distinguish between the sentimental and the false; and this movie is a beacon to such confusion. Coming as it does from the pen of James L. Brooks - a man responsible for the joyously excellent 'The Simpsons' - this is a shoddily written, would-be screwwball comedy that never ceases to grate and is done precious little justice by either cast OR director. How it garnered it's Oscars (or even it's nominations) is an enigma to me: Hunt is just above adequate; Nicholson is consistently below and Kinnear is as convincing as Hitler on a civil rights march. Not one of the tragic circumstances is either convincing or believable and the denouement is infinitely more predictable than snow on the Alps. As bad as it gets...