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Starring Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr., Yeardly Smith, Jamie
Kennedy. Written and Directed by James Brooks.
Melvin (Nicholson) is a very successful romance novel writer living in Manhatten. He is a thoroughly annoying human being, grating everyone he knows the wrong way. He is obsessive-compulsive, requiring everything in his world to be just so. When he walks, he literally runs over people trying to avoid the cracks in the sidewalk. When he eats breakfast, at the same restaurant, at the same table, with the same waitress every day, he brings his own wrapped plastic cutlery to avoid germs. "I look at the help - it's a judgement call." he says. If someone is sitting at his table, he'll harrass them until they leave. He has a knack for saying the wrong thing when things don't go his way. Or even when they do. But he does have his good side. When his artist neighbour Simon (Kinnear) is gay bashed by some kids (including Scream geek Kennedy) robbing the place, his art dealer (Gooding) strong-arms Melvin into taking care of his cute little dog, the same dog Melvin recently threw down the garbage shute. But he takes very good care of the dog. One day, Melvin arrives for breakfast, and his waitress Carol (Hunt) is off sick. This puts him into a panic, so much so that Melvin pulls some strings to help her. Carol is both repulsed, and strangely drawn to Melvin. She hasn't had a man in her life for ages (hard to believe), and wishes for a man she could hold and love. Is the much older Melvin that man, or is Simon going to convert to the straight side? Although this film is a romantic comedy, there is considerable effort to make it an unconventional one. Nicholson's character starts as a thoroughly sour, unlovable man, while Hunt is a strong-willed, much younger waitress and Simon a homosexual - not the usual description of characters ready for romance. The script by Brooks, who brought us the excellent Terms of Endearment and Broadcast News, is outstanding, with line after line of surprising jokes and cutting remarks from Nicholson, and spirited retorts from Hunt. The film, like so many recent Hollywood offerings, is about 140 minutes, but there are no real lulls in the action, and I can't suggest scenes that should have been cut. It did not feel long at all. Besides the script, the main three actors are great. This is Nicholson's best part in years. He relishes the chance to be mean-spirited, and successfully makes the believable transition from totally self-absorbed carmudgeon to a man able to be loved. Hunt is fantastic. She has the great ability to make her character real. Her character has an edge to her, but an underlying vulnerability that keeps you wanting to see more. And Kinnear can actually act, without being annoying. Who knew? One quickly identifies with his character and his plight, because Kinnear adds an ingratiating warmth and humanity. Look for all three at Academy Award nomination time, on merit. A drawback? At times, I found it a bit hard to believe a beautiful young woman could be drawn to a guy that old. There is 27 years between Nicholson's and Hunt's ages. But then in real life, Jack has a gorgeous wife, and she is that number of years younger too. But what happens to rich guys in Hollywood is not a great barometer for the rest of the world. The film makes a conscious effort to appear and sound realistic, but it is really a fairy tale of the beauty finding there's inner beauty inside the beast. This film isn't as good as it gets, but it is very close.   |