Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17580 in DVD
• Released on: 1998-12-21
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, Letterboxed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, German
• Subtitled in: English, German, Hindi, Swedish, Turkish, Danish, Hungarian, Polish, Icelandic, Finnish, Czech, Greek
• Number of discs: 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 neighboor (Greg Kinnear) and a waitress (Helen Hunt), who inspires his best behaviour, As Good As It Gets 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 mom with a chronically asthmatic young son, Hunt gives the film its conscience and integrity (along with plenty of wry humoor)and she also won an Oscar for her wonderful performance. Greg Kinnear had to settle for an Oscar nomination (while cowriter-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

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
16:9 Wide Screen
DVD 9
German
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround English German
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Theatrical Trailer
Filmographies
Directors Commentary
Czech\Danish\English\Finnish\German\Greek\Hebrew\Hindi\Icelandic\Norwegian\Polish\Swedish\Turkish

Synopsis
Acerbic and outwardly despicable pulp novelist Melvin Udall lives in a haze of obsessive-compulsive behaviour patterns, avoiding cracks in the sidewalk and rigidly adhering to his regimen of daily breakfasts in the cafe where harried single mom Carol Connelly is the only waitress he'll accept. But his ordered, hermetic world falls apart when his neighbour, a gay painter, needs a babysitter for his cherished dog--and only his long-time nemesis Melvin will do. Then, when the waitress's son's serious illness keeps her from work, Melvin realizes how much he needs her after all.

Customer Reviews

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.

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 best scripts I've ever heard Nicholson is great
At first it seems boring. Give it time. Please give it time. One of the executive producers of the always superb Simpsons, James L. Brooks writes and direcs this superbly funny and slow moving movie about a novelist with OCD who is extremely rude to almost anyone. Full credit has to go to James L. Brooks for achivieving such a brilliant film and having the patience to direct a film where nearly every scene is a slow one and the script is so simple and so out of action. The beaty of the film lies in two areas: The writing and the acting. Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt (she plays a waitress in the restaraunte where Nicholson eats every morning) both put on exceptional performances as their characters while in the script is pure genius as we get some fantastic one liners which will make you laugh out loud every time you see it. Make no mistake, As Good as it Gets is the sort of film you can watch again and again. With great acting, superb lines and loads oflaughs, this is a film that simply cannot be missed.