Highly recommended

Rating: 8/10 (7 January 2005)

'As good as it gets' is tragic comedy about a writer Melvin (Jack Nicholson) who is afraid of germ-infection from other people and other places. At the beginning of the film we see him being hostile against his gay neighbor and his dog, we also see him having lunch at the same restaurant where he always wants to be served by the same waitress.
The Jack Nicholson character stands pretty much central from the beginning of the film, but that is going to change when the other two leading characters start to develop. The waitress Carol played by Helen Hunt has a very sick son and he is in desperate need of medical help. Melvin is prepared to offer this help in a kind of way by submitting a doctor for him. Here fore he asks of her just to keep serving him at her restaurant.
The third leading character Simon who is a painter gets harassed early in the movie. Simon ends up in a hospital and is threatened to lose his apartment because of financial depths. From this point a relationship begins between Melvin and Simon.
At a certain point in the movie the three characters make a trip to Simons parents for financial support. Here all the characters really melt together and some good scenes come along. The acting of all three parties is great. The dialogue is pretty decent and the story shows little flaws.
Of course the outcome of the movie is predictable and a Hollywood ending can't lack from the film. But overall I still highly recommend this movie. Final grade 8/10