Apr 16, 2007 04:17 AM
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I watched this interesting movie recently. The cast includes Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates, Hope Davis etc. Jack Nicholson is definitely one of the finest actors I have seen. I loved his performance in The Departed.
In this movie, Jack Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, a person who recently retired as the Vice President of an prestigious insurance firm. He detests that fact that his place has been taken by a young MBA grad. Warren's frustration at having nothing to do all of a sudden is portrayed excellently.
He has a wife and a daughter. He has been married over 40 years. His daugther Jeannie is about to get engaged. He strongly disapproves of his daughter's choice of a "waterbed salesman"(Randall) as her husband. Post retirement, Warren ends up adopting a foster child in Tanzania by the name of Ndugu. His letters to Ndugu reflect his true feelings about his wife, his daughter's fiance etc. Soon his wife passes away and he is left alone. He is furious when he realizes after his wife's death that she had an affair around 30 years ago with his friend. In anger, he disposes of all her belongings.
Later however, he forgives her. Then he embarks on a self discovery in his luxury motor home and heads across the country to stop his daughter's marraige. On the way, the stops at his hometown. He plans to visit the house he was born only to find that it has been replaced by a tire store. Later he visits a couple of musuems on the way. During the course of his journey he ends up asking himself several soul-searching questions. Finally he arrives in Colorado and tries to disssuade his daughter from marrying the guy. But his daughter in obstinate and refuses. So he finally agrees to attend the wedding.
In the wedding speech however, he retrains himself hard to avoid expresssing his true feelings about Randall & his family. All the emotions he undergoes and reflected in his letter to Ndugu. In terms of performances, Jack Nicholson is obviously the best. He plays his character excellently. Kathy Bates who plays Randall's mom, does her role very well. The part in which she tries to seduce Warren in the hot water tub is hilarious.
Hope Davis as Jeannie delivers a good performance. Her best sequence is when she questions her father's right to interfere in her matters after all these years. The movie is sublimely funny & intensely sad at times.
All in all, a good watch
