Classic Movie Review: 'As Good as it Gets'

As Good As it Gets (1997)

Directed by James L. Brooks

Written by James L. Brooks, Mark Andrus

Starring Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear

Release Date December 25th, 1997

Published April 22nd, 2023

As Good As It Gets stars Jack Nicholson as Melvin Udall a famed writer struggling and suffering from a severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Melvin is a hateful person, stunted by his various fears and mental health problems. At the diner he goes to everyday as part of his O.C.D routine, he meets and falls for Carol, a waitess and single mother to a sick child. When she's not able to be at work because her son is sick, a misguided Melvin sends a doctor to her house out of the selfish desire to have his chosen waitress at his chosen diner.

Meanwhile, at home, at Melvin's apartment, he has a new neighbor. And, he's not happy about. The neighbor, Simon, is an artist and gay man who is recovering from having been assaulted and left terrified of the outside world. Melvin, naturally, is insensitive to the point of cruelty. That said, via Simon and a burgeoning friendship, based on Melvin helping to care for Simon's dog, Melvin starts to become a better person, He grows less cruel when confronted with Simon's decency and humanity. Through Simon, Melvin will discover more of the shortcomings in himself that work to keep him miserable and alone.

“How do you write women so well?” “I think of man and I take away reason and accountability.” Jack Nicholson as author Melvin Udall in As Good As it Gets.

Anyone can recognize the ugly misogyny of that quote from Jack Nicholson's Melvin Udall in As Good As It Gets. Out of context, you are tempted to assume that the movie agrees with Melvin's perspective, he's the protagonist of the movie, that implies that we are supposed to identify with Melvin. But, the reality of As Good As It Gets is that Helen Hunt's Carole is the true protagonist. She's the one we are supposed to sympathize with. She's the one who will be the catalyst for Melvin to change and became a more fully formed man. Not a great man, but a better one.

Helen Hunt has amazingly expressive eyes; it’s her finest trait as an actress. Hunt’s eyes dazzle when she smiles and change slowly like the downbeat of a musical movement when she is wounded, a modest transition, a slow wetting of the eyes, and a brief search of the source of the harm. And then, her mouth curls and her eyes flash with defensive intelligence as she makes her move to flee or to fight.

Hunt’s eyes are the star of the’ finest scene in As Good As it Gets; her first date with Jack Nicholson's OCD afflicted author, Melvin Udall, at a crab restaurant in Baltimore. At this point in the film it is hard to believe that she could tolerate Melvin, let alone love him, but for a brief shining moment, those eyes tell us and him that she does love him. Moments later, of course, because Melvin is a deeply incomplete man, the moment is lost and the fierceness she’d shown earlier in the film when Melvin had made crass reference to her ill son returns.

“I thought you were handsome, then of course you spoke” Helen Hunt as Carol Connelly in As Good as it Gets

This scene alone is enough to show why Helen Hunt deserved her 1998 Academy Award for the role of Carol the waitress. As for Nicholson, in this scene, his work may be even more complex than hers. Until this scene arrives he has been carefully playing against tabloid Jack, the ladies man, as he attempted to break away from the image of Jack the playboy, Jack the careless ladies man, Jack the misogynist.

In the restaurant scene Jack is playful but not smooth or charming, he is clumsy but not precious, and given the natural charisma that has been his calling card his entire career, it’s fascinating. To watch Nicholson, with the aid of Ms. Hunt and writer-director James L. Brooks, deconstruct and bring an element of satire to his own legend by defying everything an audience would expect from Jack Nicholson, is rather glorious, a crowning moment of supreme performance.

I would recommend As Good As it Gets based solely on the restaurant scene alone but that scene is followed by another fabulous scene between Helen Hunt and Greg Kinnear where Ms. Hunt’s natural, earthy beauty provides inspiration for Kinnear’s luckless artist and gives him the courage to start over again. This is a wonderfully tender and seductive scene with a nude Ms. Hunt freed from inhibition by the fact that Simon is gay, sheds her troubles, and her clothes, for a moment of joy and connection that she had hoped she might find with Melvin that night in the restaurant.

“I know I can do better than that” Jack Nicholson as Melvin Udall in As Good As it Gets.

And then As Good As it Gets gets even better with a final tender moment in which Nicholson, after having torn down the legend, in scene after scene, from the restaurant to his fumbling attempts at a real first kiss, finds himself anew. Having owned up to his shortcomings and demonstrated that he wants to try and be a better person out of his love for Carol, we get a small visual indication of the start of his healing journey. It's a touch of a foot on walkway with a crack in it. A smile from Nicholson and the movie ends not on a moment of triumph, but instead, a small indication of the start of growth and change. A sign of hope for the future. It's a lovely graceful ending note that lands perfectly thanks to our love for Jack.

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