It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

Anyone who thinks romantic comedies are formulaic hokum is all too easily proved right. But everyone once in a while a gem like As Good As It Gets comes along to silence the cynics. Director James L. Brooks has crafted a warmhearted modern fable with a prickly sense of humor and, best of all, complicated and original characters. Beautifully acted and surprisingly quirky, As Good As It Gets is a feel good movie that you don't have to feel guilty to feel good about.

Jack Nicholson, back in leading-man form, plays an obsessive-compulsive curmudgeon named Melvin Udall. The movie's first scene shows Melvin shoving an adorable little dog down a garbage chute, and he doesn't get much more polite than that, dispensing sharp-tongued and occasionally appalling wise-cracks throughout.

But despite all this Melvin, is likable from the beginning, mostly due to Nicholson's broad, compassionate performance. His soft underbelly shows through his sarcastic ranting, and the question is never whether Melvin will open up to others, but how. Thankfully, the movie doesn't try to cure Melvin's obsessive, gruff behavior but instead gently nudges him towards reciprocating emotion. Nicholson does more than manage to balance his character's conflicting traits--he makes it look easy.

Melvin's isolated life is complicated by developing relationships with two acquaintances: a gay painter (Greg Kinnear) who lives in the apartment next door, and a lovely, down-to-earth waitress (Helen Hunt) who serves him lunch every day. Melvin doesn't technically befriend either character. His first words to Simon, the painter, are bigoted and vicious, and all he wants from Carol the waitress is his bacon and eggs done right with as little small talk as possible.

Friendship is thrust upon Melvin, and he doesn't quite know what to do with it. When Simon is beat up in his apartment and Melvin winds up caring for his dog (the very one he tried to dump earlier), Melvin develops an attachment to the animal that sets the stage for actual interaction with humans. Similarly, he becomes so dependent on the daily routine of Carol's service that, when she takes time off to care for her asthmatic son, he is virtually forced to involve himself in her life and set things right again. In the process, he gets un-Scrooged--partially.

Helen Hunt plays Carol perfectly: more than just a foil for Nicholson's humor, she captivates both his and the audience's attention whenever on screen. Carol, struggling between her sick son, her job and unsatisfying relationships with men, is both desperate and dignified. The movie itself, like Melvin, seems to be falling a little bit in love with her. At times she holds the screen in silence for a moment and nearly stares Melvin into sensibility.

In one scene, after Melvin's inability to pay her a compliment has nearly destroyed her self-esteem, Simon gets a flicker of inspiration and draws her in the nude, boosting her confidence in her femininity. The attention the camera lavishes on her might seem excessive if her performance wasn't also so disarmingly real: Hunt makes it clear that gutsy Carol, after so much time spent worrying about her son and so many days serving lunch to Melvin, has earned these moments of beauty. Most important, she has an answer for most of Melvin's zingers--which might be why he is so smitten with her.

Kinnear, rounding out the trio, graciously avoids stereotypes and earns his own fair share of the audience's attention and sympathy. Other films would use Simon as a wheel in the plot, but As Good As It Gets is sensible enough to create complete portraits of all its major characters. Cuba Gooding Jr. is amusing in a smaller role as Simon's art dealer, and Shirley Knight gives an understated performance as Carol's mother, who wants nothing more than to see her happy. She offers the sage piece of advice that "a normal boyfriend" simply doesn't exist.

Brooks' steady direction never allows the two-hour-plus movie to sag. The love story between Melvin and Carol plays itself out with plenty of small comedic surprises, courtesy of a script that keeps the story from getting predictable. The strength of the main characters makes a few of the movie's contrivances--like sending Melvin, Carol and Simon on a car trip to Baltimore just to get them all in one location--easily forgivable.

As Good As It Gets is quietly different from the rest of the holiday releases: a bit old-fashioned in the sweet, simple values it embraces, but with a decidedly modern slant. The film's genuinely funny, moving script will make the audience feel as if it's earned a pleasant afterglow (and perhaps a Kleenex or two). Nicholson and Hunt are strikingly good, and James Brooks shows that he knows how to craft a clever love story. There's no shame in letting yourself get carried away by As Good As It Gets--you're in good hands.