"Come on in and try not to ruin everything by being you."

Rating: 8/10 (22 September 2012)

It would take a lot more convincing for me to believe that someone like Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) and Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) could ever get together for a feel good movie ending, but a lot of the picture does seem to work in redeeming these totally dysfunctional characters. Personally, I don't know if I'd have the patience for it.
Nicholson plays his role perfectly here. Maintaining his humanity at a distance allows Melvin to be a curmudgeon most of the time, just because it's easier than making the extra effort to be a nice guy. I get it about the obsessive-compulsive business, it can be debilitating when one has to avoid sidewalk cracks and count each turn of the door lock.
The best thing for me about this picture was watching the emotion in the actors' faces. Nicholson, Hunt and Greg Kinnear were all exceptional in the way they handled their characters. Helen Hunt probably had the most to offer in that regard, and I never appreciated her professionalism as an actress until I caught her here. I don't know about Verdell though. Who else thought that was one ugly pup?