This is a movie that plays so much like “real life” it is painful to watch at times. Jack Nicholson plays the role of Warren Schmidt, a 66 year-old guy beginning a new phase of his life – retirement.
Some guys go through a midlife crises. Not Warren – he’s saved it all for retirement. He’s married to Helen for forty-two years, they have a daughter who is about to get married, and it’s taken until now for Warren to realize he doesn’t like the way things have turned out.
Warren was an actuary for an insurance company and has led himself to believe he gave up chances for fame and fortune in order to do the right “Midwestern” thing. That is, to settle down with a nice woman and to raise a family. It’s no coincidence this movie is set in one of those “rectangular” states we on the West Coast like to mock. In this case it’s Nebraska and folks in Omaha apparently settle for a boring life – never chasing their real dreams, they end up trapped in loveless marriages and working dead end jobs.
I might resent that kind of stereotyping but these people do exist and this movie got it “dead on”. Look at Jack right from the first scene and it’s written all over his face. Then notice the attention to detail in this movie. The people in Jack’s town – his co-workers, even the lady working at the Dairy Queen -you probably won’t recognize any of them. They are not pretty looking Hollywood extras. They look like Omaha people. The movie was shot there and is it ever authentic. There’s a sense the whole town is trapped in something like 1987. I couldn’t take my eyes off of all this detail and it adds to a great performance by Jack.
It’s not an easy job either, because these Midwestern types don’t say much, and when they do, it’s all happy small talk. Warren is only able to overcome this by writing his true feelings in letters to his new foster kid, one of those “Sally Struthers” specials, a Tanzanian kid named Ngubu. It’s a bit of a plot convenience, but I’ll live with it because it’s kind of funny.
“About Schmidt” won’t knock you off your feet with out loud funny stuff, but by the time Warren gets to meet his daughter’s future mother-in-law, played By Kathy Bates, you really appreciate what Warren is going through as he looks around and seems to say “is that all there is?” Bates, by the way, is great as a lady who can’t keep much to herself, but it may be a bit much to have to see her rear end and Jack’s in almost back to back scenes.
This is one outstanding movie, but beware, it may be no escape from the real world. I give it a “9.0”.
