DVD Movies: About Schmidt DVD Movie

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Hollywood is not very good at making movies that reflect the way real people live, act and think. Or maybe it's more truthful to say that most of us won't pay good money to watch the monotony of daily life on the big screen. Our lives are too full of PTA meetings, trips to the Dairy Queen, empty stretches of highway and backed up septic systems to make for riveting cinema. We know it, and Hollywood knows it. But somehow About Schmidt director Alexander Payne didn't get the memo. Born and raised in Omaha, Payne has made a film about a staid Midwestern man (also from Omaha) who seems to wrap into himself an indelible humanness that moviegoers instantly connect with. He gets inside your head from the very first seconds of the movie, as he sits silently in his barren corporate office, watching the wall clock's second hand lurch around its face, inexorably forcing the big hand to 12 and the little hand to 5. Boxes are stacked along one wall, waiting to be hauled downstairs. And Warren Schmidt placidly waits for the final moments of his career to expire. He gets up. He puts on his coat. He turns off the light. He walks to his car. At his retirement party that night (he had been a vice president and actuary at an insurance company), he listens to the toasts, smiles wanly, and then, unnoticed, slips away to order a solitary drink at a bar. The days and weeks pass as Warren struggles with his newfound uselessness. Then his wife of 42 years dies while vacuuming the carpet. The funeral comes and goes. The well-wishers wish him well. And then he's truly alone. But Warren Schmidt knows good and well that he's been alone his whole life. He just doesn't know what to do when the reality of it boldly stares him in the face.

On the television, one day, he sees a commercial for Childreach/Plan, a relief organization (one that's not concocted for the film) asking those who have to support those who haven't. Warren picks up the phone, calls the toll-free number, and then writes a check. Nothing changes, of course. His lonely life simply continues. In Denver, his only daughter, Jeannie, is engaged to be married to a waterbed salesman named Randall. Warren thinks Randall is, in his words, a "nincompoop" and simply "not up to snuff" for his little girl. So after a considerable amount of inner turmoil, Warren hits the road in his brand-new, deeeeluxe RV, to personally try and dissuade Jeannie from her marriage plans. During his journeys through the Nebraska and Kansas countryside, his adventures (a word that may well be too grand for visiting roadside museums and tidy campsites) are backdropped by a series of letters he writes to the Tanzanian child he is sponsoring. Letters that provide this reserved, buttoned-down retiree the only emotional outlet he's ever allowed himself to have.

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When Warren suddenly becomes a widower, he takes stock of his life, and he is appalled at how empty it is. In desperation, Warren starts to write rambling letters to his Tanzanian foster child, Ndugu. (Warren sends the child twenty-two dollars a month in response to a television appeal). Even though Ndugu is six years old and cannot read, Warren pours his heart into these letters as a means of venting his anger and frustration.

Alexander Payne, who directed "About Schmidt" and shares credit for writing the fine screenplay, has done a commendable job of eliciting strong performances from an excellent cast. Kathy Bates is a hoot as Jeannie's future mother-in-law, and both Len Cariou and Howard Hesseman shine in small roles. The film, however, belongs to Jack Nicholson, who appears in practically every frame.

Nicholson acts with his entire body. He does wonders with a raised eyebrow, a half-smile, a gesture or a glance. In one hilarious scene, Nicholson does battle with a waterbed and loses. Nicholson captures the very essence of Warren Schmidt, a man who will never be ready for the first day of the rest of his life. Don't miss "About Schmidt" if you want to see one of the best performances of this or any year.

Warren decides to hit the road in the mobile home his Wife loved, and head off to help his Daughter with her upcoming wedding. His future In-Laws, headed up by Kathy Bates, are a comedy gold-mine, and Bates provides one of the most jaw-dropping shocks/laughs in recent movie history. At it's heart, About Schmidt is a small film about the human condition, and Nicholson's wonderfully warm and restrained performance is perfect. The narrative device the film uses (Schmidt writing letters to his African Foster-child, Ndugu) allows Nicholson to show both the put-upon outer Schmidt, and the "Mad-as-hell-and-not-gonna-take-it-anymore" inner Warren. It's nice to see Jack in a more restrained role than what he's generally known for. It's a wonderful performance in a film full of wonderful performances.