This movie is my all-time favorite!!

Rating: 10/10 (19 November 2005)

This movie is wonderful for many reasons: the acting, the writing, the score... to name a few. 1997 really was a good year, with pure classics, as L.A. Confidential, Good Will Hunting, The Full Monty and this one...
It's a mix between a romantic comedy and a drama... and that does it very well. As the film goes on, we enter the minds of the different characters and see all the different points of view as how to live your life. Because that is what this movie is all about: LIFE.
The story is quite simple but the dialogues are priceless! Funny, clever, witty, meaningful, with a really great message. It's all about the three main characters (Nicholson, Hunt & Kinnear) in their interactions with each other and how they evolve throughout the movie. It has to be the movie with the most memorable quotes I've ever seen! I love sarcastic humor, and this movie has plenty of it!!! Just pure gold! But don't worry, it is not offending at any time!
Now the acting... certainly the highlight of the movie! Let's begin with Jack Nicholson. Where shall I begin? He totally OWNS the show! He steals the whole screen! No doubt about it! His character is a very difficult one: an obnoxious romance-writer with OCD who's searching for meaning in his life. The thing is... he's a horrible human being, a total b@st@rd! I think he says more or less 40 obnoxious things during the whole movie! Nevertheless, you end up liking him, very much... I won't say why because it would be a spoiler... Nicholson gives his most perfect performance, in my opinion. Sure, he was excellent in "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Terms of Endearment"... but this is his best role. A strong, misunderstood, obnoxious, yet-sensitive character. I just love this character! Probably because he makes me think about myself...
Helen Hunt was also very good as a single-mother waitress always worrying because her son is very ill and she can't afford the treatment that could save him. She was really moving, in her own way, yet quite funny sometimes! Her monologue about loneliness is absolutely heart-breaking.
Greg Kinnear is a big surprise! In all the movies I've seen starring him, he only plays womanizers with almost no brain. Here, he plays the neighbor of Jack Nicholson, a gay artist whose most important thing in the world is his dog! When he thinks his life is perfect, something happens that will change his vision of life, as well as Nicholson's character's (I won't say more...) His performance is very subtle, heart-breaking, almost perfect... and as I already said, the dialogues are priceless!! And he's not the cliché of a gay man. He's not fooling around all the time with his hand lifted and sobbing every time someone tells him something bad... No!! He's just a person who happens to prefer men and is very sensitive... Another reason why I love this movie... no clichés, just something likely...
Other supporting roles to be noticed: Cuba Gooding Jr. (always good!!), Shirley Knight (not bad at all!!), Skeet Ulrich (only 5 minutes, but good!!) and Yeardley Smith (ditto!) All in all, the performances make this movie a must-see, and as the writing is great and the directing quite nice, it's a WINNER!! It's not the common type of romantic comedy! you won't see the leading man charming or macho... you won't see the leading girl over-sexy or faking disinterest in order to get attention... You won't see crazy supporting roles... well... not too crazy at least! lol.
It's so much more than that! It's a real review of life; a guide of life; a homage, should I say, to life. Absolutely wonderful!! It will make you think about how you should act with other people, and how to make yourself a better man... and entertain you at the same time!!! Which is why we go see movies... entertainment!!