Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #783 in VHS
• Released on: 2002-07-01
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Dolby, PAL, Surround Sound
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 133 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
For all of its conventional plotting about an obsessive-compulsive curmudgeon (Jack Nicholson) who improves his personality at the urging of his gay neighbour (Greg Kinnear) and a waitress (Helen Hunt) who inspires his best behaviour, this is one of the sharpest Hollywood comedies of the 1990s. Nicholson could play his role in his sleep (the Oscar he won should have gone to Robert Duvall for The Apostle), but his mischievous persona is precisely necessary to give heart to his seemingly heartless character, who is of all things a successful romance novelist. As a single mum with a chronically asthmatic young son, Hunt gives the film its conscience and integrity (along with plenty of wry humour) and she also won an Oscar for her wonderful performance. Greg Kinnear had to settle for an Oscar nomination (while co-writer-director James L Brooks was inexplicably snubbed by Oscar that year), but his work was also singled out in the film's near-unanimous chorus of critical praise. It's questionable whether a romance between Hunt and the much older Nicholson is entirely believable, but this movie's smart enough--and charmingly funny enough--to make it seem endearingly possible. --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
Melvin Udall is a novelist who delights in his own ability to offend, repulse, affront and wound - not minding who he upsets in the process. It takes waitress Carol Connelly and the unexpected act of kindness of babysitting a neighbour's dog to put him back on track...

From the Back Cover
Nicholson gives a show-stopping performance as Melvin Udall, an obsessive-compulsive novelist who takes pride in his ability to affront, repulse, offend and wound. His targets are random, his aim reckless

But when neighbour Simon is hospitalised, Melvin is forced to babysit Simon's dog. And that unexpected act of kindness along with waitress Carol Connelly ( Helen Hunt) helps put Melvin back in the human race.

Customer Reviews

Absolutely brilliant
I can't remember what it was that made me go to see this at the cinema but I am sure glad I did. Read a synopsis and it sounds contrived, implausible, a Jack vehicle where he can ham it up (which he does with aplomb). But this film is so much more than that. Nicholson is truly great as Melvin, the OCD suffering romance novelist who lacks any social skills at all, he is anti-semitic, homophobic, racist, dog-ist and hates dirt, contact or any changes to his routine. He is so prejudiced you could almost say he isn't - he just hates everyone. Except he doesn't. He goes to the same table at the same cafe every day - perhaps to indulge his OCD - but maybe because he is in love with Carol the waitress who is the only person who can tolerate him. The film follows what happens when Simon, the gay neighbour (wonderfully played by the straight Greg Kinnear as a proper character rather than a cliche), gets attacked and almost dies. His dog ends up in Melvin's care and slowly but surely the little dog opens up a chink in Melvin's armour that exposes the lonely person underneath. He allows himself to feel - but this means his tightly ordered life starts to unravel and he starts to develop a relationship not only with Simon but with Carol too. As Simon wallows in depression, Carol has problems of her own as her son is asthmatic and is often in hospital. Melvin changes her life when he pays for her son to see a private doctor so that she can continue to work and the effect of this one gesture has an incalculable effect. There is an incredible scene where Carol tries to write a thank you letter and talks to her mother about the way her worries over Spencer allowed her to force down her own feelings of loneliness. Helen Hunt truly deserved her Oscar for such a nuanced and complex portrayal of a complex and real character. If only more parts as good as this were written for women. Touching, funny and painful in equal measures, each character is explored and shown to be a vulnerable human being with a story to tell. Whatever inspired James L Brooks' amazing screenplay I don't know but he obviously has a genius for seeing people and for showing their complexity and inner beauty, not to mention the humour and hope that can be found in almost any situation. The musical score is whimsical, almost old school, and gives an impression of a timeless kind of New York, one that is full of diversity and community. Carol in particular is streetsmart, wise-cracking, hard-working, decent and intelligent, she has all the qualities that make a wonderful person but as Melvin asserts 'I bet no-one notices that about you'. There are so many truisms like that within the film that it uplifts the story from a mere romantic comendy to being a truly great commentary on the nature of love and humanity itself. I have happily watched this film many times and it always makes me feel uplifted. To the people who just 'don't get it' - it says more about you than about the film if you don't.

One of the finest Hollywood films ever?
Let's get straight to the point. If you haven't seen this film, you're in for a treat As Good As It Gets is quite simply one of the finest Hollywood films ever made. Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt both received Oscars for their performances but you would have to search long and heard to find a film where acting awards were more richly deserved. You will find moments in this film that are some of the most touching, rewarding and uplifting ever seen on the big screen. In parts, it's hilariously funny but though billed as a romantic comedy (frankly, I usually hate the genre) it has an awful lot more than the usual platitudes with which these films tend to deal. With strong supporting roles from Greg Kinnear and Cuba Golding Jr, Director James L Brooks presents us with a wonderfully entertaining and charming movie. Nicholson's performance is as brilliant as we've have come to expect but Helen Hunt's is remarkable - a real tour de force. The nuances and strength of her acting are quite amazing.

The DVD itself is standard - trailers, scene selection, audio set -up but no Making Of, though the Director's commentary is a useful bonus. Picture quality and sound are excellent.

Time for another viewing?
Some films need seeing more than once to fully appreciate them... and here's one. First time through the superb black comedy of this story of Melvin Udall - "a truly awful human being" - dominates your reactions. His incredible rudeness to everyone around him is unexpected, shocking and very, very funny and the tension & laughs it generates grab your immediate and undivided attention but mean you miss a lot on the way.

Second time through the sheer excellence of the acting really hits home. Nicholson's interpretation of Udall's incredibly complex character is superb while Helen Hunt's portrayal of a desperately lonely waitress who's inextricably drawn to him and Greg Kinnear's portrayal of a gay artist struggling to come to terms with his sexuality and Udall's incessant verbal abuse are believable and beautifully touching. And then there's the gay artist's dog... putting in an Oscar level tour de force in the "Best Supporting Canine" section, plus excellent cameo performances from just about everyone else involved. Still very funny but, devoid of the shock of it all, you've got time to fully appreciate the quality of what's on offer and how the characters combine to produce a genuinely moving, multi-layered story about people's need for love and affection.

And then... well there's more to come because as you go back and explore it once again you'll still be laughing - which is some feat for any comedy film - but you may also start to realise that things are not quite as straightforward as you thought. Udall gets the girl he wants but at no time during their relationship does he do anything that isn't based on total self-interest - in fact the only genuine tenderness he shows is towards the dog and, in the end, to the gay artist, leaving you wondering whether in addition to being a suppressed dog lover he may also be a suppressed gay, or indeed whether self interest isn't such a bad thing if it also gives other people what they want, or... maybe not? One thing's for certain: it's getting much deeper, more complex and more thought-provoking than it all seemed to be. Time for another viewing?