It's Sort of a Wonderful Slice of Life

Rating: 8/10 (5 March 2000)

What kind of movie is As Good As It Gets? There is no easy answer. It isn't a simple romance or road picture and doesn't have clear cut heroes and villains. It is a slice of life with people trying to deal with tough breaks and for the most part As Good As It Gets does its job well.
As Good As It Gets begins by showing us a bigoted, rigid novelist played by Jack Nicholson. The main object of his scorn is an artist (Greg Kinnear) who happens to be gay and the only person who can tolerate our bigot is a waitress (Helen Hunt). Now the film gets into very heavy details about the problems of the artist and the waitress and how Nicholson's character could care less. This worked well for me because the performances were good, including a supporting part by Cuba Gooding Jr (oh, and the dog is cute too). Also, the script was well written and the pace felt right.
As Good As It Gets brought up many topics and presented them in interesting ways. Can a bigoted person change? Does a single mother with big financial problems take money as a main consideration when looking for a partner? For a Hollywood movie the handling of these weighty subjects leaned more toward reality than fantasy. Still, the age difference between Nicholson and Hunt as well as the final scene take some strong suspension of belief. On a positive note, the style of the picture moved from drama, to comedy, to a road picture and landed as a romance shifting smoothly from one mood to another.
Appreciating As Good As It Gets depends if you are not expecting a lot of action or a straight forward story. If you are willing to give the movie a chance and enter the lives of its characters then your effort will be well rewarded.