About Schmidt
Tags: dramatic, comedy, satire, depressing, flashback

Plot synopsis:
The movie opens with shots of a large building in Omaha, NE, called the Woodmen Building. Actuary Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) is sitting in his dull, gray office watching the clock until it hits five. There are packed boxes all around him, implying that this is his last day at work.The clock hits five and Warren solemnly grabs his coat, turns out the lights and leaves.In the next scene, Warren is driving at night in the rain with his wife Helen to a steakhouse where his retirement party is being held. The affair is rather quiet and solemn, with the new guy replacing Warren offering a tribute and telling Warren to feel free to come down to the office any time, mentioning that he may need some help with Warren's old accounts. Warren's best friend and co-worker Ray, who is obviously inebriated, delivers an impassioned speech for his friend. Warren appears touched at the sentiment and excuses himself. He retreats to the other side of the restaurant where the bar is and orders a drink. It's obvious he is not happy to retire.When Warren and Helen return home, their daughter Jeannie calls to wish Warren well. They discuss her upcoming wedding. Before bed, Helen remarks to Warren that she wishes he would try to be more friendly to Jeannie's fiancé.In the days following Warren's retirement, he is not sure what to do with himself. Helen surprises him with breakfast in their newly purchased Winnebago, saying how much fun they are going to have traveling the country. Warren doesn't appear enthused, but puts on a smile for his wife. A visit back to the office to visit his replacement doesn't go well; the new guy brushes him off, and Warren is taken aback by it. As he leaves the building, he passes a dumpster and discovers all of his old files have been thrown away. When he gets home, however, he tells Helen that the visit went well and that the new guy needed his help.Days pass and Warren spends his time sitting in front of the TV feeling sorry for himself. As he's flipping channels he comes across a commercial for a Third World relief fund where people can "adopt" a young African child (trivia: that's Angela Lansbury's voice in the commercial). Warren makes the call.After some more days of loafing and moping around, Warren receives his packet in the mail. He has "adopted" a young Tanzanian boy named Ndugu. He is advised in the letter to write to the young boy, so he does. In the letter (done in voiceover, which is very funny), he tells Ndugu about his life, how he's been married for 42 years... and soon the letter spirals into a rant about how he was cast aside by Woodmen, how his wife is starting to annoy him, and how his daughter is about to marry a loser waterbed salesman named Randall. He goes off to mail the letter, and his wife tells him not to dilly-dally.Next we see Warren heading into a Dairy Queen, where he gets some ice cream. He comes home to find Helen unconscious on the floor. She has died.Jeannie and Randall fly in for the funeral; Warren is very happy to see her but is rather stiff toward Randall, who is just emotional over the death. After the funeral Warren's friend Ray is sobbing violently (somewhat important later).Jeannie and Randall stay for a while at Warren's house. Warren asks Jeannie to stay longer, implying that he'd like for her to take care of him, but Jeannie is adamant about getting back to Denver to plan the wedding. Warren is upset that Jeannie still wants to go through with it; he thinks she should postpone because of Helen's death, but Jeannie insists her mother would want her to get married. Jeannie then rails on Warren for buying a cheap casket, saying that Helen deserved more. Eventually Jeannie and Randall leave for Denver, telling Warren they'll see him in a few weeks.Warren writes another letter to Ndugu about Helen's death, taking back all the bad things he said about her previously. This is done in a voiceover as Warren goes through her makeup, putting on her cold cream, and going through her closets. He then opens a shoebox and finds several to letters to "My darling Helen" which were not written by him. He looks closely at the signature and realizes who his wife had an affair with. In a rage, he sweeps all of Helen's belongings into boxes and throws them into a local recycling bin. Then he drives to a barber shop. Seconds later, Ray comes out and Warren confronts him with the letters. Ray tries to explain that the affair happened 25-30 years ago, but Warren clumsily punches him anyway and drives off in a rage.Warren decides since there's nothing left at home for him, he will go to Denver early. He loads up the Winnebago and takes off. Within a few hours he calls Jeannie at a gas station pay phone to say he's coming. Jeannie freaks out, and insists he go home until it's time to come for the wedding. Warren is very upset as he hangs up, feeling unneeded. He decides to take a leisurely pace, and in another letter to Ndugu, he tells of his pathetic adventures visiting the site of his childhood home-- which is now a tire store-- and his old fraternity at the University of Kansas, where the current frat brothers do not connect with him. He goes on to visit an arrowhead museum and ruminate about Native Americans, then buys some Hummel figurines like his wife collected.He's finishing the letter to Ndugu in an RV campground just as there's a knock on his door. John Rusk, another Winnebago enthusiast, greets him and invites him over to dinner with him and his wife Vicki. John and Vicki turn out to be two unbearably perky people from Wisconsin; Warren is perplexed by them at first, but later he warms up to them. After dinner, John leaves to get some more beer, while Vicki shows Warren pictures of their family. When they are alone, Vicki makes an observation that Warren is a sad person. Warren admits this and breaks down a little bit. When he tries to kiss Vicki, she shrieks and kicks him out of her camper. Warren goes back to his Winnebago and takes off into the night, passing a confused John on the road.In an deserted spot, Warren sits on top of his Winnebago with lighted candles and the Hummels, talking to Helen and wondering what he did to drive her into an affair. He asks her forgiveness for not being a good enough husband, and sees a shooting star. The next morning he takes off, leaving the candles and figurines on the roof. One by one they slide off the roof as he drives.Warren eventually arrives in Denver at the house of Randall's mother, Roberta (the wonderful Kathy Bates). Roberta's house is full of odd decorations which match her dotty personality. She is very outgoing and Warren seems somewhat frightened of her. Jeannie and Randall arrive, and Warren tries to get Jeannie alone to tell her to call off the wedding, but she is too busy.Dinner is a tense event. Roberta and Randall's father (her ex) Larry (an almost unrecognizable Howard Hesseman) snipe at each other. Randall's brother Duncan acts like a zombie, and Warren is watching everything and wondering why he is there. After dinner he finally gets Jeannie alone and begs her not to marry Randall, saying she deserves better. Jeannie tears into him, saying he was never there for her in the past but now wants to run her life. She says she will marry Randall, and Warren will come to the wedding and deal with it. Warren is very hurt at her behavior.Warren is given Randall's old room, equipped with a waterbed. He looks around to see Randall's honorable mention trophies and participant certificates (to enhance just how average the guy is). Warren wakes up the next morning with his back out of whack from sleeping on the bed. Jeannie thinks he's faking it and is furious. Roberta becomes Warren's nursemaid. Very funny scene follows as Roberta feeds him soup for lunch and goes into detail about Jeannie and Randall's sex life. Warren is very uncomfortable, and Roberta gives him some Percodan to get him through the rehearsal.At the rehearsal, Warren is completely stoned but gets through it and the dinner. Roberta takes him home and puts him in the hot tub. Here Warren is finally relaxed, until Roberta comes out. She disrobes and goes down into the tub with him (she's completely naked, he's wearing swim trunks). Roberta slowly hits on Warren, making him so distraught that he soon leaves to retreat to his Winnebago, where he spends the night.The next day is the wedding, which goes off without a hitch. Warren is restrained throughout the whole ceremony and reception. After Randall's best man gives the speech, he hands the mic over to Warren. Jeannie appears nervous, but Warren goes into a speech, then pauses. He mentions Helen dying and delivers an impassioned speech about how Helen wanted to see Jeannie happy. He then offers a nice tribute to Roberta and Larry, as well as Larry's wife, and even finds something nice to say about Duncan. The crowd applauds and Warren retreats immediately to the men's room to control himself. The reception goes on gaily.Another letter to Ndugu in voiceover as Warren drives home. He writes about the wedding and how Jeannie and Randall are in Orlando on his nickel, and that there's nothing he can do about her life anymore. On his trip home east, Warren stops at a museum and marvels at the courageous journeys pioneers had made going west, prompting him to ponder what he has accomplished in the direction of his life. He is depressed that he hasn't made one bit of difference to anybody, that he hasn't done anything important.He returns home; the house is a mess and there's a huge pile of mail behind the door. Warren quietly collects everything and goes to his den to sift through it. He finds a letter from a nun who works at Ndugu's orphanage, and she explains that Ndugu cannot yet read or write, but he enjoys Warren's letters, and he likes to paint. A picture by Ndugu for Warren in enclosed in the letter, and Warren unfolds it to see two smiling stick figures holding hands (one child and one adult, apparently Warren and Ndugu). Warren breaks down and cries, realizing that he indeed has made a difference in somebody's life.

Review: It's a realistic, brutally true example of a failed life, and it's so tragic.Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, an insurance salesman, whose life crashes down on him when he retires.
Everyone, simply everyone, does a great job portraying the various characters, from the hotshot newly educated young man who takes Schmidt's job, to the embarrassing buddy of Schmidt's daughter's fiancé.This is a must-see movie.
The child's material emptiness was contrasted with Schmidt's emotional emptiness in a way America does not recognize much less watch on the screen.The last part of the movie dealing with the marriage of Schmidt's daughter to a man who came from a diametrically opposite "new age" family was an unstated acknowledgment by his daughter that she wanted nothing of her father's values-she wanted a complete break and she was going to marry the break.A fascinating, complex movie and I'm sorry I didn't see it much earlier..
This success can be attributed to the strength of the script and most importantly to the uniformly superb acting.This film provides a showcase for Nicholson to display his talent, and he doesn't disappoint, delivering a superb and multi-layered turn, which is a world away from the smirking characters he often plays.
This is a funny movie but looking back its probably not quite the kind of jokes you appreciate laughing at.In the lead role as Warren Schmidt is none other then Jack Nicholson, with an already astute résumé, only further strengthens his long career with his subtle and charming performance.
The film's success is deeply in debt to Jack Nicholson, subordinating his personality to the character of Warren Schmidt.
Like one time during the film, when Warren Schmidt decides to adopt a six-year old African foster child by mail.
At his dying bed, all he has left is his reminiscences - and something called "Rosebud." In 'About Schmidt' the director Alexander Payne uses voiceover to convey Jack's thoughts and memories throughout the movie.
To be specific it is when Jack is writing a letter to the boy he sponsors - (Ndugu), at the same time Payne is informing the audience about Jack's regrets and pain concerning his wife and daughter while the movie is still rolling on.
I likened it to previous movies like "Death of a Salesman", "The Apartment", "The Swimmer" (Burt Lancaster), or a short filmed called "The Bridge".As a cautionary tale (or social comment) on the "American Way" of life, the messages it conveys are slightly exaggerated, but nevertheless there to be debated.
We are talking about identity, achievement, interpersonal relationships, and the "average IQ".In the end, I believe this film will become one that is studied in future classrooms, and it was brave of Nicholson to participate in such a character study and a work intended primarily for writers, actors, and directors.
The use of time, space, cognitive dissonance, and Irony abound in this work and challenge us to look, think, and feel.Notes: we would have cut or altered the "Percodan scene" at the rehearsal (as overdone), also note- the cattle at the funeral who later appear on the freeway, inside jokes about Des Moines and Denver, Randall's "Certificate of Attendance", the look on Jeannie's face at the end of Warren's speech at the Wedding Reception, the use of "overstatement", details of wall decorations, and Warren's obvious attraction to the trite, idealistic, delusional, and superficial.If you are a thinking, feeling, serious movie-lover, you should SEE this film once, and then STUDY it the 2nd time!.
We experience a downfall as poignant as the smell of bacon cooking in Denny's at eight a.m.Like Forrest Gump, the film depends on extensive voice over narration, V.O'd by Nicholsen as letters to Schmidt's newly adopted six year old Tanzanian foster child.
But in the role of Warren Schmidt he did not use this specific talent just to entertain us but to open our mind for the possibly deep emptiness of people who call somewhere in their life and recognize that they aren't as rich as they are supposed to be.
About Schmidt provides neither.Almost everything that could go wrong for a guy (Schmidt) after he retires is depicted in detail through long (very long) scenes of no action: boring.We all know that Jack and Kathy are going to give good performances- that is a given.
Jack Nicholson gives a superb performance, but this alone does not a good movie make, and neither does a nude Kathy Bates.
I saw a man who was unhappy retiring, his wife dies he's not sure if he's sad about that or not and generally bumbles about on the build up to his daughters marriage and then the film stops.
But then he finds out that twenty-five to thirty years ago she had an affair with an old friend of his, and in one of the most subtley funny moments in the film, dumps off her old belongings at a donation center.Warren, still missing his wife but truly bitter at what she did, eventually decides to go visit his daughter in the south, and packs up the 35-foot-long Winnebago with everything he needs.
If people want a Jack Nicholson movie played just for laughs, with your average characters, I recommend "Anger Management." But if you want a classic example of fine storytelling, see "About Schmidt."The characters are funny, but not outrageous.
It is one character I think most people can feel close to.The movie has a great and emotional ending.
I registered with imdb to write it because I am sick and tired of seeing people gush over About Schmidt, which is easily one of the 8 or 10 worst things I have ever seen in nearly 50 years of going to the movies.What do I know about Warren Schmidt?He considers his wife of many years a stranger.
An excellent title for this film would have been The Man Who Wasn't There, if someone else had not already used it.It is a hallmark of good fiction that the author makes the reader or viewer care about the characters and hope things turn out well or badly for them, according to what they deserve.
In the movie, Schmidt is a man who just retired to realize his whole life has meant nothing.
About Schmidt is a very boring film.Even though it has a good cast who deliver great performances and a touching storyline about an old man who has lost his wife, the fact of the matter is it feels as if you, the viewer, are waiting for something to happen.
Jack Nicholson is part of these unique actors who are not afraid of playing demeaning parts.While most of his peers in their sixties/seventies are still playing heroes ,see what he does.He has almost never played the brilliant-lawyer-with-good-prospects.Two examples :"one flew over the cuckoo's nest" and the overlooked "Ironweed" which almost nobody knows and which paired him with an equally extraordinary Meryl Streep."About Schmidt" is a very good film,cause it succeeds in blending comedy and drama.And this drama involves US ,cause like Schmidt we are all potentially retired people .We are afraid of losing our job for good (the scene when Nicholson returns to his office is revealing),we are afraid to live with a partner getting old (who's THAT old woman living in my house?) ,we try to enlighten our children for fear they might go astray (and the daughter's family-in-law has nothing to recommend them)...
and most of all,we are afraid of this: when you reach 65,you take stock of your life and you realize it's an unfulfilled one.Then you live in the past conditional.That's why the little African boy is so important;although we never see him ,he's a character in the story: a confident ,and finally,when Nicholson begins to cry,the one thing he can be proud of.The letters he writes to his foster child provides the movie with an unusually inventive use of the voice over.There are numerous memorable scenes:my favorite is Nicholson's speech during the wedding meal:his attitude is in direct contrast to the praises he says to everyone ,particularly to his daughter's mother-in-law ( Kathy Bates is sensational).Recommended..
But the frailty and 'want-of-love' in Warren Schmidt cannot do anything but open up the heart of the strictest and most cynical viewer, portraying a myriad of emotions with one single glance or old-age crease.Overall not to be missed, the comical moments are not lacking and in my eye, a new, better understanding Nicholson emerging.'Dear Ndougu', you will certainly love this..
Her daughter resents him, her husband to be is a jerk, he is excellently portrayed by Dermot Mulroney.The film is a character study, a man who failed to be interesting, worked to provide for his wife and family and realising that he will soon be forgotten.Schmidt is empty, sad and even resentful inside when he realises his wife never understood him and he never really understood her.His daughter cannot see that the husband although very nice is a bit of a jerk with get rich quick schemes.The film starts slowly, gets absorbing but despite the emotional pay off at the end, I did find it less than enthralling.I do find Payne's films rather heavy going and although well acted, the pacing makes it off kilter..
Jack Nicholson, I realize now, is a great deadpan comedian, owing largely to his slightly sinister presence even when he's playing a harmless old man.His role as retiree Warren Schmidt is definitely one of his tamer performances.
I highly recommend this film to people of all ages, particularly those who often ask themselves, as the character Warren Schmidt does: "What in the world is better because of me?" Watch the movie, and it may help you answer that cosmic question for yourself..
But after his wife dies in the blink of an eye, he becomes a more uncaring soul, one with little motivation to do anything; including shop for food.He eventually decides to take his new Winnebago on a road trip to try and stop his daughter from marrying an underachieving waterbed salesman, who is played by the unfortunately unrecognized Dermot Mulroney, in his umpteenth film role.
He manages to connect with some townfolk along the way, and attempts to find some real value in life and pursues something many of us are afraid to do.Jack Nicholson leaps into the role of Warren Schmidt, reminding us why he is one of the greatest screen actors of all time.
It's safe to say that this is a film that means a god-damn thing.Starring: Jack Nicholson, June Squibb, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, and Kathy Bates.
Alexander Payne has quietly and steadily assembled one of the most impressive oeuvres of any movie director working today."About Schmidt" stars Jack Nicholson as a successful businessman who discovers how little his "success" means when he finds himself a retired widower.
There's also great deal of intelligent humor and wonderful Jack Nicholson with his outstanding performance as Schmidt.This movie is so wonderfully balanced between drama (and this parts are really dramatic) and comedy (and this time are bitter but funny) that it's true rarity.
I would have given this movie a 10, but Kathy Bates' performance seemed a tad exaggerated; a forced Earth Mother archetype of sorts.After "About Schmidt" and "Sideways," I can only wonder what the next Alexander Payne mid-to-late life crisis havin'-American male on a road trip-to enlightenment gem will be next.
While at the same time laughing at the irony, madness, and subtle humour of many real life situations.Although I prefer my comedy, a little more manic and in your face than this, I can still appreciate the sheer brilliance in the writing and performances, and I still found it to be a very entertaining movie.7/10.
Alas no, Winnebago meandering, more unbearable Nicholson playing "small".From the very first moments of the movie, Payne lets us know we're in "fantasyland" some strange fake netherworld where a man on the last day of work would actually sit in his office, alone, and watch the clock tick down the last moments.
But her "character" (I use the term loosely), like all the others in this movie, wasn't given any dignity and eventually she was shown to be a loud, vulgar rube who showed up at the wedding if her son in some ridiculous Minnie Pearl outfit instead of something more realistic.The real trouble with the film lies with Nicholson who just isn't very good.
I realize he coiuldn't put in any of his usual energy because that would not be part of Schmidts personality - but the only thing he conveys with his performance is a feeling of utter boredom with the role and the lines he has to say.summary: the film is money wasted - mine and the producers.
Just fantastic.Excellent writing, direction and acting by the entire cast without exception (especially Nicholson and Bates).The score is brilliant and without it the movie would have been something completely different."About Schmidt" and "Sideways" are Payne's masterpieces.What especially amazing in this movie is how effectively, brilliantly and quickly it switches between heavy drama and comedy.Yes, yes, I cried at the last scene - like always..
Great acting for Jack Nicholson, who plays the role of a recently retired and widower who wants to reconnect with his estranged daughter before she gets married.
New Line Cinema is alive and well.This film, by director Alexander Payne writing with Jim Taylor is a mostly successful comedy-drama, but the satire gets a little lost.The "Best Actor" Oscar-nominated performance by Jack Nicholson carries the drama, with the hilarious-in-a-hot-tub "Best Supporting Actress" turn by Kathy Bates (as Roberta Hertzel) stealing away with the comedy.
Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) is a man who's always wanted to accomplish more in life, but now he finds himself retiring from a dead end job having made no difference in the world around him.
Overshadowed by a notorious nude scene by Kathy Bates in the late second act of the movie, it's often forgotten that Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates were both nominated for Oscars and Jack Nicholson won a Golden Globe for best performance by an actor in a drama (to which Nicholson said during his acceptance speech, "I'm a little surprised, I thought we had made a comedy").
The movie does a great job, as well as Nicholson playing the role to a tee, of showing a man that even at his happiest carries around the weight of never having accomplished anything in his life to be proud of as he also confronts his own mortality.
Jack Nicholson's Schmidt comes to realize that he has quite a bit of time left after a forced retirement, and that his worth is minimal.
In fact, the the main character (Schmidt) spent the entire movie trying to get people to change, without success.
This movie wants to say that Schmidt is a hopeless dolt who cannot handle his retirement and his life and whose emotions are so bottled up that it looks like he's ready to explode at any minute.
Well, the one positive thing I can say about the film is that Jack Nicholson finds every shred of humanity in Warren Schmidt that he can.
Jack Nicholson here plays "Walter Schmidt" an unhappy, ageing man who has just retired from his job.
While everyone played their roles spectacularly well, Nicholson does indeed steal the show here.The movie is very down to earth, and very moving, Warren Schmidt (portrayed by Nicholson) is a very real man, and while there is the occasionally goofy bit here and there, and a nude scene which was both very shocking and felt out of place, the narrative stays relatively grounded in reality.
It's my favorite Jack Nicholson movie after A Few Good Men. It also has an insightful look at what it means to have a meaningful life.
This film works thanks to some great directing and some powerful performances especially by lead actor Jack Nicholson.
After a tragic moment in his life, he decides to take a road trip to see his daughter marry a man that he has negative feelings for.This film is very well-acted.
Nicholson was a great character in the movie, and I thought the part about his sponsoring a child was a nice touch.
Some hilarious moments during the funeral showed how Warren was reluctant to the idea of Jeannie marrying Randall, a water-bed salesman from Denver, the kind who tries to recycle his pyramid scheme learning, an authentic schmuck played by Dermot Mulroney, and his family doesn't improve the picture, although it's highlighted by a wonderful breakthrough performance by Kathy Bates, as Randall's free-spirited, sexual and sensual mother.Warren Schmidt's arc is an evolution from a lethargic/passive to a hilarious/active character, the film avoids those clichés, because as active as he was, he finally had to compromise with the idea of the wedding, give a warm speech to people he personally despised and get back home at the end, after all, he's not a pioneer.
Still Jack Nicholson(in my opinion the best actor ever)pulls off the role of Warren Schmidt in top form(Oscar nominated).
In this quirky movie Jack plays a recently retired man named Warren Schmidt.
Through the simplest of things Schmidt begins to see his life for what it really is, and this is where the movie excels.The part is played to simple perfection by Mr. Nicholson; I defy you not to be moved by his journey.
"About Schmidt" is excellent and warm movie about life of one ordinary man.
Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) is 60 year old man who lost his wife and actually tries to find meaning in his life.
So Warren also must meet Randall's family, on top with Randall's mother Roberta Hertzel (Kathy Bates)."About Schmidt" is excellent movie from director Alexander Payne ("Sideways").
Jack Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, a Vice President of an insurance company who retires at the start of the story.
From Nicholson's first scene in the movie until the very last, the moments in which the audience realises they are watching one of the most iconic actors in film history are remarkably near non-existent, so deeply does he inhabit the character of Warren Schmidt.