My god, what a fucking phenomenal film. This is my second foray into the works of Alexander Payne and if I can gauge anything from those two films it is that I need to see Election and Sideways as soon as possible. The film tells the fascinating and utterly realistic (which is one of the main things I loved about The Descendants and one of the main things I loved about this) story of Warren Schmidt, a recent retiree who loses his wife (ironically after listing all the things he hates about her) and goes through a three-quarters-through-life crisis, realizing just how empty his life had been. Anyway, the story proper beigins when he takes an RV trip to Denver to try and stop his daughter's wedding, merely because she's marrying a man he doesn't like. But the story isn't really the most important element of the film in this case. In this case, it's the discoveries that Schmidt makes about himself and just how sheltered he'd been, and how his life had simply been going on around him. He has no real friends, so he decides to sponsor a child in Africa, to whom he writes letters (providing the film's voice-ovver narration). This voice-over narration is done in the tragicomedic way of The Descendants (or should I say the other way around) and it definitely works in the film's favour, giving the audience insight into the character of Warren Schmidt, who is one of the finest characters ever written, who is one of the finest characters ever written (bravo Mr. Payne). The script is absolutely brilliant and the characters memorable (which is what I've liked about Payne's films thus far), and I hope it won the Oscar that year becaause it sure as hell deserved it. But like The Descendants, the script would just be a good script were it not for the fantastic leading performance, from Jack Nicholson in this case. Jack Nicholson fully embodies the character of Schmidt and plays it perfectly, oftentimes reminding me of my own grandfather. It is he and the script that carry this film, and everything else exists merely to complement the two. He is backed up by solid supporting performances from Kathy Bates, Dermot Mulroney, and several other people who's anems I cannot remember., as well as solid directional work from Payne. Anyway, I've rambled on enough. Payne is growing to become one of my favourite directors (perhaps he could even top the list someday) and it is because he makes films like About Schmidt, films that warrant at least one viewing in one's lifetime. Phenomenal work.
