About Schmidt

[ellenf]

Director Alexander Payne follows "Citizen Ruth" and "Election" with "About Schmidt," the third film set in his hometown, Omaha, Nebraska.
Rounding out the trilogy, ( Payne says his next film will be shot in California wine country), "Schmidt' is his most mature film to date.
Jack Nicholson stars as Warren Schmidt, a retired insurance salesman who has retired from life long before receiving his gold watch. It's Nicholson's best acting ever and that's saying alot given his long illustrious career.
Schmidt's loneliness and alienation is emphasized by Payne's long, winding cinematography and film score. He uses composer, Erik Satie, in a beautiful sequence showing the barrenness of the countryside along the Nebraska Interstate.
In a Q & A following the film at a benefit in Lincoln, Ne., Dec. 10, Payne likened Schmidt's character to that of Chauncey Gardner (Peter Sellers) in Hal Ashby's, "Being There."
Members of the audience also compared Nicholson's performance to that of early silent film comedians Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. ( A bit of trivia, Lloyd was a homegrown Nebraska boy.)
Schmidt tries to salvage his relationship with his estranged daughter after the death of his wife, by heading to her wedding in Denver in a Winnebago. Daughter "Jeannie", played wonderfully by Hope Davis, is about to marry a bumpkin waterbed salesman (Dermot Mulroney)with a mullet haircut. I had to look up Mulroney's mug on a movie website to remember what he really looked like- so good is his transformation.
And you know how they always say a daughter marries her father- Nicholson's comb-over should have it's own screen credit.
Schmidt also tries to redeem himself by "adopting" a Tanzanian orphan named, "Ngudu." Payne uses Schmidt's letters to the orphan as a thread throughout the film.
Kathy Bates stars as Mulroney's ex- hippie mother. In a hysterical scene, Bates disrobes while coming on to Schmidt in a hot tub. I sure hope Bates gets an Academy Award for this. She's completely fearless.
I enjoyed Payne's attention to detail. For instance, he splatters bird poop on the Winnebago's windshield at the perfect comedic moment
Unlike Payne's other films, most of the humor in this one is burbling underneath the asphalt of the Midwestern landscape.
Along with loneliness and alienation, this film is about coming into old age and the redemption one can feel if they start living their life instead of just watching it go by.