Why?

Rating: 5/10 (18 October 2014)

I will never truly understand how this film got all the way to the Oscars nor why it receives praises. The movie has its moments of sentimentality but they are few. For the most part, this movie is pretty much a misfire. Jack Nicholson plays novelist Melvin Udall, a misanthropic obsessive compulsive with a lot of venom. He has lunch at a Manhattan restaurant every day and insists on the same waitress to serve him. The waitress is Carol (Helen Hunt), a struggling single mother with a sick child at home and most likely the only one who knows how to handle Melvin. Suddenly, Melvin's world is turned upside down when he is tasked with caring for his gay artist next door neighbor's dog. The neighbor is Simon played by Greg Kinnear who is recovering from a violent burglary and then faces financial troubles after a failed art show. Okay I will cut to the chase and just say that the film suddenly turns into a road movie that leads to self awakening and blah blah blah. What's wrong with the movie? Fourteen years later I saw it again to see if maybe there was something I missed but no its still flawed and clichés. I still dislike this movie. It tries to be a comedy but every one liner from Jack Nicholson is a misfire. It tries to be sentimental but it is not sincere enough to pull it off. It tries to be romantic but there is absolutely no chemistry between Nicholson and Hunt. Jack Nicholson, well, he's Jack. This performance is not groundbreaking and its a role that he has played before under James L. Brooks: obnoxious bachelor with a heart of goldsomewhere. Helen Hunt is lovely and sometimes sympathetic but this is not a performance that was worthy of an Oscar (I am laying it out that Judy Dench was robbed of the Best Actress Oscar for "Mrs. Brown" and even Ms. Hunt would admit it). Greg Kinnear is actually the only character I prefer to have seen more. He gave a performance that was the complete opposite of his usual style. The film is unbelievable, forced, and underwritten. The characters are two-dimensional and the plot is mostly sitcom material that disguises itself as a drama. Also, who the hell would fall in love with someone like Melvin Udall?!?!