Directed by: Alexander Payne

Cast: Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney

Runtime: 125 mins

Warren Schmidt is a man who has been working at the same firm for years. The film begins with his last year in the firm and he is about to retire. This central theme of retirement has been something Jack Nicholson has been courting with several of his characters. He has smartly played several permutations of the same theme.

Schmidt enters a sponsorship group where he begins to write letters to a Tanzanian boy named Ndugu. To make matters worse his wife dies after he gets retired. But this is not the end of all his woes his daughter to top things off wants to get married and doesn’t want to wait for a year after her mother’s death to go about with the ceremony.

The film is about a frustrated Schmidt who needs to come to terms with several circumstances that his own relatives have put in front of him. The film is essentially a comedy that works on several tragic events. It takes its time to create mood by showing some of the things Jack had to with his wife around. But this is to show the freedom he gets the moment his wife dies.

He embarks on a journey to his son in laws house on a caravan that he had bought for his wife and himself to go for vacations. This caravan is used as a metaphor for some of the clichés American lifestyles our put through. So he meets people on the way who provide him some thoughts of what to do when he reaches his daughter.

He finally sees his daughter who is surprise and angered by his visit. But unlike other Hollywood movies where the daughter finally comes around there is no reconciliation at the end of this film. It becomes more of what her life is going to be all about after this wedding. The film doesn’t waste time on several Hollywood emotions instead brings in a lot of human nature into the scheme of things.

This film would have been nothing if it weren’t for the beautiful and flawless performance of Jack Nicholson. He has challenged some of his very best performances to give this role a lot of meaning. His daughter is played by the evergreen Hope Davis who gives the necessary trouble Jack craves for in this character. Another fine example of acting comes from Kathy Baker who gives us a frontal that won’t be missed for its quirkiness. But finally it is the script that ploughs through all the pitfalls of these characters and makes for some essential viewing.

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