The Film Was Worth the Wait

Rating: 7/10 (27 February 2018)

Sadly I never had the chance to view it in the theatres, and I as hold back on it with the suspicion that it was going to be an overrated, formulaic, mushy romantic comedy which stars Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt. Surprisingly, it went beyond my expectations that it totally deserved the hype that was praised upon by viewers and the Oscars including the win for Best Picture when it came out in 1997.
Jack Nicholson plays cantankerous, people-hating romantic author Melvin Udall who avoids human contact except insulting people, is very routine by his agendas and is has a deep phobia of germs. The only two people that seem to tolerate him is gay neighbour Simon (Greg Kinnear) and an eatery where every waitress avoids this jerk except for Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) who can withstand his verbal abuse. His life goes to a great transformation when Simon gets beaten and Melvin befriends Simon's dog, Verdell.
We don't need to cram our brains with ideas of which way this story is going. That's because it's so simplistic they are in some ways spoon-feeding us with by-the-numbers details that just depends on the characters interacting with each other in a natural way, the plot is very micro in terms of what this movie pans out. The plot falls victim to weaving around in circles, we do feel that there is very little direction to make this movie feel real. But the strangeness that brings this film to our attention was that you get the impression that you want nothing more than to sit back and watch the film in its entirety, no matter how bizarre it is.
"As Good As it Gets" makes no apologies that the film is starving of a plot, but survives on the performances and the character interactions from the script by Mark Andrus. From the misanthropic writer, the insecure waitress mother that has a child who is sick, to the gay, unfortunate artist,they are backed up nicely by a myriad of other reliable supporting characters. Not any of them are blessed with perfection through their veins, but that's what keeps the film real. In addition to that, they don't offer a lot of special qualities about them. Which is not a bad thing because these are the people we meet everyday in our lives. Some of them are people we could have met before with similar problems they're facing or have encountered before. The script injects that magical touch to make their ornery lives compelling you can't help but to sympathize with them. Even for the leading character who is as unlikable as they come, there is still some aspect that he yearns for our sympathy. Yes the ending is gooey and by-the-numbers, we can overlook that and give praise to the script that Andrus delivers. The dialogue delivered is done with a quirky, quick pace, and throughout it depends on humour, the jokes don't always come together, but it's still fun to listen in.
Of course engaging characters and humourous dialogue would be null and void without an excellent cast. Fortunately, the cast is as good as the title of the film says it best. Jack Nicholson was wonderful in a film that was meant for Bill Murray as the cantankerous writer. He still oozed in great intensity, but showed a great knack for comedy in one of his most hilarious films to date. The dark humour he delivers is spot-on and still has enough charm to make us feel for this jerk. Helen Hunt is wonderful as the harried single mother nurturing her asthmatic son plus her warmth and caring nature is just the perfect contrast to Nicholson's character, but the chemistry between the two thespians were spot on. Greg Kinnear adds wonderful support as the gay painter Simon who's equally charming like Jack and Helen.
Even though it's a wonderful film in spite of its cliches and predictable nature, the biggest flaw about this movie was that it went on for way too long. I don't have a short attention span or anything like that, but most romantic comedies should only run for 90 minutes to an hour and forty-five at tops. This film is about two hours and twenty minutes long. But the script, the dialogue, the characters and performances made up for the flaws and I was glad I had chance to watch this on DVD. It's very highly recommended.