About Schmidt Review
by Jerry Saravia (faust668 AT aol DOT com)February 24th, 2003
ABOUT SCHMIDT (2002)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
February 21st, 2003
RATING: Three stars and a half
"About Schmidt" is a curious hybrid of the road picture, black comedy and drama. It is all those things and then it ends up being none of them. The film has been advertised as a comedy. Truthfully, it is anything but. This is one of the saddest, bravest films ever made about growing old with age and what life has to offer in what are supposed to be the "golden years."
Warren Schmidt is the 66-year-old actuary of the Woodman of the World Insurance Company in Omaha, Nebraska. The first shot of Schmidt establishes everything we need to know about him. He sits in his office with packed file boxes, waiting for the clock to get to the minutes leading to his dismissal. This is not just another day at work for Schmidt - he is finally retiring. He lives with his wife, Helen (June Squibb), a woman he has been married to for 42 years. He is still unsure of who she is, questioning her minor eccentricities with car keys and that she forbids him to urinate standing up in their beloved bathroom toilet. Schmidt also questions her private collection of figurines and trinkets, and he also hates to be interrupted by her when they have company. When Helen suddenly dies of a blood clot, Schmidt is left fending for himself. His daughter (Hope Davis) is about to get married and can't take care of him (nor does she want to). The real question is: what kind of life is there to look forward to now? He knows he may die in twenty years or less - what has he done in his life that is remotely valuable? Will anyone remember him? When Schmidt visits the office and sees the new hotshot who replaced him, he is surprised that this new worker (who graduated from Drake) has no questions for him. Schmidt is also deeply disturbed to see his file boxes are being discarded.
Since he has no one to take care of him, Schmidt takes a trip in his Winnebago Adventurer to see his daughter. He meets her soon-to-be-wed son-in-law, Randall (Dermot Mulroney), a balding, goateed waterbed salesman with pyramid schemes in mind. There is also Randall's mother, the feisty, vibrant Roberta (Kathy Bates), who is as blunt as a whistle. Schmidt is not pleased that her daughter is marrying a buffoon and unsuccessfully tries to talk her out of it. Roberta is pleased as punch that they are getting married, and is extremely proud of her son (no doubt it has something to do with perfect school attendance records that proudly hang on his wall). Roberta comes on to Schmidt in a jacuzzi scene that is the biggest highlight of the film, and possibly of Schmidt's life. He also has to wrestle with his son-in-law's waterbed in a truly funny scene - waterbeds are tough to sleep in based on my own experience with them. What appears to be sitcom variations on "Meet the Parents" is nothing less than window dressing - the movie has bigger issues to fry.
"About Schmidt" is based on a novel by Louis Begley and adapted to the screen by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor III. Payne and Taylor have previously collaborated on "Citizen Ruth" and the marvelous "Election." Payne is also the director of those earlier films, and his genius is in articulating nuances and subtleties in the most minute of expressions in his characters. He has a field day with Warren Schmidt who shows degrees of sadness in every scene, not to mention shock and regret. Payne and Taylor sometimes get sidetracked a little, particularly with the inclusion of a trailer park scene involving a married couple that seems a little heavy-handed (though the wife does illustrate how sad Schmidt appears to be). I would have preferred a little more time with Schmidt's best friend, Ray (Len Cariou), whom he discovers had a thing for Helen twenty years earlier. There is a moment when we think there will be a payoff where they can at least discuss their problems, but it is never followed through. It might have led to some illumination about Schmidt and how others feel about him. The only big scene Ray has is when he makes a speech at the retirement party about how superficial it all is, or when he is pelted with letters by Schmidt. Nicholson is the perfect actor for the role, and has given similarly laid-back performances before. Here, though, he avoids his usual arched eyebrows and arrogance in his demeanor (not to mention his typical sunglasses) and gives a measured performance of quiet charisma and the absolute boredom the character feels with his life. At times Nicholson disappears into the character so well that we forget it is good old Jack.
The supporting cast is excellent as well. Hope Davis, a usually bland actress, brings some reality and pathos to Schmidt's daughter. I also liked Dermot Mulroney (one of my least favorite actors) for his mullet-shaped hair and for his deft delivery of dialogue. Kathy Bates is the greatest of all scene-stealers and even shows up in her birthday suit - her Roberta character is as full of life on screen as anyone in the movie. Also worth noting is Howard Hesseman (best know for TV shows like "WKRP in Cincinnati" and "Head of the Class") as Robert's ex-husband who shares his own sadness, though it doesn't run as deep as Schmidt's. Watching and hearing Roberta fling insults at her ex is one of the few strange delights of this movie.
"About Schmidt" is not on the same scale of elevating social satire and delectable wit as Payne's previous "Election," but it is a memorably enlightening story of one man's loneliness and detachment in a life carefully arranged from the beginning. When he discovers his life might have some meaning after all (involving a certain Mr. Ndugu), we realize it is never too late, even at the age 66.
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