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| Jack
Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr. |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
 |
DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Melvin
Udall: 'Never, never, interrupt me, okay? Not if there's a fire,
not even if you hear the sound of a thud from my home and one week later
there's a smell coming from there that can only be a decaying human
body and you have to hold a hanky to your face because the stench is
so thick that you think you're going to faint. Even then, don't come
knocking. Or, if it's election night, and you're excited and you wanna
celebrate because some fudgepacker that you date has been elected the
first queer president of the United States and he's going to have you
down to Camp David, and you want someone to share the moment with. Even
then, don't knock. Not on this door. Not for ANY reason. Do you get
me, sweetheart?'
Simon Bishop: 'It's not a subtle point that you're making.'
Compulsive
writer Melvin Udall is drawn out of his shell by the troubles of his
gay neighbor and a single mother waitress.
 This
is one of those movies you know would have been really bad if
the actors hadn't been so incredibly good. Of course everyone sees this
movie for Jack, and you do get him in spades. Not only do you get to
see him being a bad boy and saying nasty things to blacks, women, dogs
and homosexuals, he also gets to redeem himself by befriending a dog,
doing something nice for his gay neighbor, and finally getting it on
with Helen Hunt.
The screenplay has some good jokes and the cast knows how to deliver
them, but the direction is slack and the film has no steady pace whatsoever:
it stops and starts and shifts back and forth between barbed comedy
and teary melodrama, sometimes gracefully but mostly not. It's odd really
how Nicholson was portrayed as a rebel in Five Easy Pieces back
in 1970 when uttering similar lines, whereas in the 1990s he needs to
be categorized as a cantankerous compulsive neurotic with a whole legion
of phobias to get away with these jokes. There's progress for you, I
guess.... |
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Regiion 1 and Region 2 releases are identical.
The film is framed anamorphically at 1.85:1. The image is crisp and
clear, and leaves little to be desired. The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is
pleasant and unobtrusive.
Extras
on this disc are the original theatrical trailer and an audio commentary
with the director, writer and some cast members. It's pretty informative
but not all that remarkable.The
menus are extremely basic. Nothing special.
Dan Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on As
Good As It Gets.
Click here
to return to the front page.
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