July 18, 2010: About Schmidt
I’ve been meaning to revisit About Schmidt (2002) for a while, but the timing was appropriate now, since my personal situation in certain ways mirrors that of the main protagonist. I may never get to say that about another Jack Nicholson movie, unless I’m institutionalized or become the Devil. Nicholson, playing his age (mid-sixties) for a change, is Warren Schmidt, a mousy vice president at a Nebraska insurance company who is about to retire. He isn’t entirely sure what he plans to do once his days open up, but the few things he knows are on the horizon don’t seem to inspire him.
It’s jarring to see Nicholson, a longtime Hollywood bad boy and well known these days as a perennial front-row sunglasses-wearing audience member at the Oscars, with a paunch and a comb-over of grey hair. His wife in the film is a plump lady of similar age, further eroding the sex-symbol image that Jack has cultivated for all these decades, even in his more age-appropriate recent films such as Something’s Gotta Give (2003). Warren is a meek man, hen-pecked and living in a house with stagnant 1970s-era frilly decorations which he obviously didn’t have a hand in choosing. He’s old-school, dressing up in a shirt and tie just to go out to the post office during his retirement. He was a vice president but he’s clearly a cheapskate. This is a sad man who never found the life he should have had. He sponsors a foster child in Africa, writing letters regularly, which serves as a useful device to provide a voice-over but also highlights how desperate he is for connection and value in his life.
Getting back to me for a moment, there’s a scene which has stuck with me since the first time I saw this film. Warren returns to his old office a few weeks after his retirement to visit, to check in on his successor and ask whether any questions have come up. The energetic young executive gently brushes off Warren by saying that all is under control, further eroding Warren’s feeling of value in the world, and the knife is twisted one final time when Warren leaves and sees his carefully prepared boxes of files and transition reports stacked next to a dumpster. Having recently left a corporate job myself, I’ve always found this scene to be a helpful reminder not to knock myself out on transition tasks, and also not to feel bad when everything runs smoothly after I’m gone, as if I was never there. It’s just the way it works.
But this is a movie, so of course tragedy strikes and Warren finds his world upended. He winds up back in touch with his daughter, who is about to marry a man Warren doesn’t approve of. Dermot Mulroney is spot-on as the son-in-law to be, a compassionate man who unfortunately doesn’t have much earning potential. Warren takes a trip in his RV to visit his daughter, and along the way he discovers some of the world he’s been missing, and finds a real emotional connection with some of the people he meets along the way, although his awkward manner gets in the way. Meeting Mulroney’s family puts Warren way out of his comfort zone, particularly with the outgoing and flamboyant Kathy Bates as the proud mother of the groom. However, despite being a total fish out of water, he feels valued for the first time in his memory.
I’m generally a big fan of director Alexander Payne, but About Schmidt is a bit of a misfire, and not overall as good as I remembered it being. Bates’ energy adds a lot to this film. The plot seems linear, but it’s actually kind of rambling and the point is not clear. This is brave acting work by Nicholson and Bates, and some important ideas are explored, but it’s not enough to save the movie.
Good quiet film goes wrong somehow.
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