SusiDee34
"As Good As It Gets - SOME PEOPLE HAVE NOODLE SALAD!"
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Rating:
Pros: Story, acting - everything
+5
Cons: Not a thing
I know, this has been reviewed to death, but I just saw it again and had to laugh all over. Nicholson should get an award for just standing still! His expressions in this movie are priceless, almost makes you forget what an ass he started out to be. His interaction with Helen Hunt (who may well be one of the best actresses around) make this movie not only believable but also heart warming.
Poor Nicholson, plagued with a compulsive disorder, trapped in a lonely and desperate world, reaches out to the only person who shows him a inch of kindness - Carol (Hunt) waitress in the neighborhood eatery. Carol is a single mom, living with her mother and an ill child, depressed, frustrated, lonely, and just a tad bit ummm....'wanting'. Throw in Greg Kinnear in an outstanding performance as a gay artist, living within an inch of poverty and Cuba Gooding, Jr., his promoter. And let's not forget the pooch!
Kinnear makes the mistake of picking the wrong person for a model and gets mugged - badly - is hospitalized, beaten, broken and penniless. While he is laid up in the hospital who gets stuck with the pooch but Nicholson - the last person in the world you should ever give a pooch to! Love prevails, the pooch wins out in the end. Nicholson is hooked and not only that, finds the pooch gets him some brownie points with the ladies.
Due to some bad timing, Carol must leave work to take care of her child. Nicholson goes spastic, no one else will give him the special treatment she does, he gets thrown out of the eatery. Life sucks! He contacts his agent (he is a writer) and convinces her to have her M.D. husband take over the care of Spence (Hunt's child) so Hunt can return to work. The man is just slightly possessed.
In the meantime, Kinnear must get funds from somewhere, he is deeply in debt and cannot work. He has to make the trip back home to his parents who want nothing to do with him. Somehow, Gooding (the miracle worker) convinces Nicholson to take Kinnear home and Nicholson talks Hunt into joining them. All in all unbelievable, but that is what makes it so darn good. On the road Kinnear reveals his past with his parents, Hunt takes pity, Nicholson pouts. Hence, the speech about Noodle Salad - God knows where that came from, but we are dealing with Nicholson here.
During the short trip there are some wonderful and touching moments, a little skin from Hunt, a little nonsense from Nicholson who is desperately trying to get Hunt to fall for him and failing, but not really. Kinnear starts sketching again, thanks to Hunt's gorgeous back and graceful neck, Nicholson continues to pout.
Gooding steps in again and sets Kinnear up in Nicholson apartment - not a match made in heaven but a just one for Nicholson. Their interaction is hilarious --- "Are you ever going to talk to me?????"
Just a great movie, gotta love everyone in it. Even the durn pooch, poor guy! Oh Geez .... I almost forgot - Nicholson CANNOT sing!
Recommended:
Yes
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woopak_the_thrill
May 04, 2011
entertaining review!! Hi, Susi...
SusiDee34
May 06, 2011
hey woo
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I needed medication for OCD after the movie was over. As good as it gets gets better when SSRIs kick in and the credits roll. Honestly its one of the most overrated movies i know of.
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I hate to admit it, but I've never been a fan of Jack Nicholson. Also, I've never been smitten with the lovely Helen Hunt. Lastly, Greg Kinnear has always been REALLY too smarmy for me. However, somehow AS GOOD AS IT GETS has a special place in my heart. Nicholson is absolutely fabulous as the neurotic writer who, due to circumstances wildly beyond his control, has to not so much step outside of his comfort zone as he has to destroy the barriers that have isolated him from society when … more
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Quick Tip by sunshineliz.
June 28, 2010
I've seen this movie a bajillion times, and it never gets old. Which is, to me, a good test of a movie's greatness. Greg Kinnear's utterly beaten, sad faces kill me. And I just love Helen Hunt.
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review by KevinTRod.
April 16, 2009
There seems to be two groups of movie lovers in the world: Those that believe that golden age of Hollywood has passed us and those who believe that it never existed in the first place. The first group believes that the golden age of Hollywood was in the era of the 30's, 40's, and 50's, where dialog was elegant and the passion of love was written at the dinner table, not the bedroom. The second believes the golden age of Hollywood was nothing more then movies with pandering, syrupy dialog. They prefer … more
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About the reviewer
Susi Dawson (SusiDee34)
Ranked #26
Ranked #26
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About this movie
Cast:
Helen Hunt,
Jack Nicholson,
Jamie Kennedy,
Jesse James,
Yeardley Smith,
Cuba Gooding Jr.,
Skeet Ulrich,
Greg Kinnear,
Leslie Stefanson,
Harold Ramis,
Shirley Knight,
Lupe Ontiveros,
Wood Harris
Director:
James L. Brooks
Genre:
Comedy,
Drama,
Romance
Release Date:
December 23, 1997
MPAA Rating:
PG-13
Screen Writer:
James L. Brooks
Runtime:
2hrs 19min
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