As Good As It Gets (1997)

Starring - Jack Nicholson; Helen Hunt; Greg Kinnear; Cuba Gooding Jr. & Skeet Ulrich Director - James L. Brooks MPAA - Rated PG-13 on appeal for strong language, thematic elements, nudity and a beating. Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt both won Oscars for their performances in As Good As It Gets, and Greg Kinnear was nominated for his performance as well. For a movie that received such attention at the awards ceremonies, it was certainly a heck of a disappointment. As Good As It Gets was marketed as sort of a romantic comedy, but this movie was short on comedy and the romance was the pits. Nicholson plays an obsessive-compulsive writer who, to put it bluntly, is obnoxious. He falls in love with his waitress at the local restaurant (Helen Hunt), who just happens to have a gravely ill son. Throw in to the mix Nicholson's gay next door neighbor (Greg Kinnear), who Nicholson's character takes great delight in tormenting, and you have the basis for a movie that isn't that great. It's certainly not worthy of all the critical acclaim that it has received. But then again, what do critics know? Adding to the intricate plot twists of the movie (I'm being sarcastic here, just in case you missed it), Kinnear's character gets beaten up when he walks in on burglars. So by some miracle of modern cinematic genius, Kinnear, Hunt and Nicholson go off on some road trip so Kinnear's character can go beg his parents for money to tide him over until he recovers from his injuries. It sounds stranger than it actually is, but it really isn't significantly better. If it were anyone else other than Jack Nicholson playing the role of the obsessive-compulsive belligerent lead character, I will go out on a limb and say that this movie would have crashed and burned within the first ten minutes. But since it is Jack, no matter how unlikable the character is, you still have to begrudgingly be rooting for him. Nicholson injected enough humor into the part to prevent me from hating the character. As for Helen Hunt, I have no idea why she ever won an Oscar for her performance. Her acting abilities are not bad, but the character was so whiny that I kept wondering what the heck Nicholson's character saw in her. Next to Nicholson, Greg Kinnear gave the most solid performance in this film, although even he was also a little on the whiny side. Cuba Gooding Jr. should also be mentioned as one of Kinnear's gay friends. Cuba stole every scene he was in, including those that he shared with Nicholson -- no small feat. Aside From the good performances from Nicholson, Kinnear, and Gooding, there is really no other reason to recommend that people actually sit through As Good As It Gets. The love story isn't that compelling. I never cared if Nicholson and Hunt ever got together. On top of that, Nicholson mellowed far too quickly for my liking. At the first of the film he was just plain obnoxious, towards the end he was almost likable which seemed to be just a little too convenient for my tastes. As Good As It Gets ranks as one of the bigger disappointments in recent years. 6/10 - Based solely on the performances of Nicholson, Kinnear and Gooding. Reviewed February 18, 1999 by Joe Chamberlain