Two holes worthy of the Holland Tunnel, yet still excellent....

Rating: 10/10 (14 April 2019)

This movie has two holes worthy of the Holland Tunnel, to coin a phrase. First, Carol/Helen Hunt only now notices Melvin/Jack Nicholson brings his own plastic cutlery to a restaurant, after she has been serving him for how many years? Second, no reputable Medical Doctor would provide Medical care to a sickly child without explicit permission from the parent, unless it is a life and death emergency requiring immediate medical care.
But for all that, the film is excellent. A scriptwriter would die for the line "I take my pills because you make me want to be a better person." says Melvin to Carol, who is looking for a simple compliment like "You look pretty tonight." (Hoping I quote the line with accuracy.)
And that line encapsulates the movie. With Jack Nicholson (as Melvin Udall) with an obsessive compulsive disorder (which somehow makes him justify rude and obnoxious behavior), we are immediately recalling mathematician, and Nobel Prize winner, John Nash ("A Beautiful Mind") who asserts that he simply WILLED himself NOT to be schizophrenic. We find that triumph of will every day in the AA meeting where people will themselves to be sober, one hour at a time to one day a time, to one week at a time. The power of the WILL to overcome mental aberration.
But Helen Hunt (as Carol Connolly) knows and acknowledges she cannot be Melvin's love interest, because she is the wrong person. Though she doesn't say so, love interest soon become custodial caretaker for a mentally ill person, with all that custodial caretaker implies. If I remember the line correctly, she says at one point: "For so many reasons."
And Carol is also right in being cautious about letting a wealthy rich (and psychotic) person take over her life and her son's life by buying proper medical care. That has huge flashing red lights all over it, no matter that the Medical Doctor brings seemingly instantaneous health to her sickly, asthmatic son.
The dog(s) stole the show! The dog giving as it does unconditional love, has a pivotal role in humanizing Melvin Udall; and from that humanization follows the rest of the movie. (I might add, one more hole to the move: serving human food to a dog would cause havoc on dog's gut and bowels; Melvin would soon enough come to regret that.)
Needless to say, the performances were top notch (that's why they get paid millions) and made the film worth watching, thanks to Director Albert Brooks. What could have descended into sentimental treacle, ended up as an insightful commentary on mental illness and the will to be normal. In fact, at one point, Carrol/Helen Hunts demands of Melvin/Jack Nicholson:: "Be normal..."