Predictable but Very Entertaining

Rating: 9/10 (16 October 2011)

Jack Nicholson won an Oscar in "As Good as It Gets" for playing a slightly more outrageous version of the role Jack Nicholson almost always plays. Helen Hunt won the Oscar while playing somewhat against type and showing she's an excellent actress. There are really very few surprises in this film. The premise is on the far side of implausible but the viewer knows pretty well from the start how it's going to come out. The stinker (Nicholson) is going, against his will, to become the good guy and the put-upon single mom (Hunt) is going to get him although most of the time she can't stand him The gay guy (Greg Kinnear) is going to become friends with the gay-basher (Nicholson) and the dog-hater (Nicholson again) is going fall in love with the adorable pooch. Despite this predictability, the film is a lot of fun.
Nicholson is a star because he's very good at being "Jack Nicholson." Helen Hunt, although slightly less of a luminary, always manages to display an attractive and sympathetic character. Whulke she's not a kid any more, she's still a very good looking woman. I have no idea of Greg Kinnear's sexuality but he fits the stereotypical "gay" role perfectly. He's a step beyond handsome, soft-spoken, artistic and in love with his dog. Together, the improbable trio (plus the cute little pooch) strike inflammatory sparks off one another in the beginning of the movie and eventually produce sparks of an altogether different variety.
Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a significant role as an agent of change by threatening to pound the stuffings out of Nicholson's misanthropic dog-hater.