Wonderful comedy-drama

Rating: 9/10 (28 October 2000)

"As Good As It Gets" is another terrific movie from writer-producer-director James L. Brooks, the creator of "Terms of Endearment" and "Broadcast News". The great Jack Nicholson, who won his second Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for "Terms", won his third Oscar as Best Actor for his hilarious performance here as Melvin Udall, a mean-spirited writer who is hated by everyone and has a tendency to act weird and unusual (for example, when he walks down a street he avoids stepping in cracks by stepping over them). Then he begins to show off a nice side of himself thanks in part to two other people: his favorite waitress Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) and his gay neighbor Simon Bishop (Greg Kinnear). He also becomes attached to Simon's adorable little dog Verdell when Simon's art dealer pal (Cuba Gooding Jr.) forces Melvin to watch the dog after Simon is injured in a beating and hospitalized. Most movies simply don't get as good as this. "As Good As It Gets" is very well-written and directed by Brooks who sure knows how to make good movies. He's only directed four feature films in his career and three of them have been excellent (only his 1994 film "I'll Do Anything" was a dud). "As Good As It Gets" is also beautifully acted by the entire cast. Nicholson is perfect here and so are Hunt and Kinnear. Hunt has proven that she can be a great actress both on the small screen (as on her long-running TV show "Mad About You" which won her four Emmys) and on the big screen (she deservedly won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance here and she's very good in the current release "Pay It Forward"). Kinnear is also very good in this movie too (he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar). The rest of the supporting cast from Cuba Gooding Jr. to Shirley Knight to former "Ghostbuster" Harold Ramis are cast to perfection in "As Good As It Gets". This is a terrific movie with only one minor problem: it runs just a little bit too long. Still, I loved it anyway.
***1/2 (out of four)