About Schmidt (2002)
Director: Alexander Payne
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
After retirement and his wife's sudden death, insurance salesman Warren Schmidt (Nicholson) feels his life, and all the bland assumptions that have sustained it, slipping away from him. To get back on course, he travels in his Winnebago to see his beloved daughter (Davis) in the hope of preventing her marriage to a walking cliché (Mulroney) and of spending his remaining years with her. This perhaps excessively droll, even ponderous satire of Midwestern manners really takes off only when Warren reaches his prospective in-laws, allowing not only for alternative comic targets to arise but for Bates' beautifully judged turn to counterbalance Nicholson's admittedly impressive lead performance. Also enlivening are the letters to a Tanzanian child Schmidt sponsors - even though they strike a faintly false note of redemption in the final moments.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Alexander Payne
Producer: Harry Gittes, Michael Besman
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, Kathy Bates, Howard Hesseman, June Squibb full cast
Duration: 125 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
A lion in winter
Frank Langella hits the sweet spot in Starting Out in the Evening.
Dog day evening
Back with a taut new crime film, Sidney Lumet has plenty more to give.
Kiss of death
Goran Dukic proves that romance never dies in Wristcutters: A Love Story.
Monster in law
Jacques Vergès, infamous defender of Nazis and bombers, takes the stand in Terror’s Advocate.
Optic nerve
The eyes have it in “Views from the Avant-Garde.”
King of New York
TONY finds much to crow about at the 45th New York Film Festival.




What do you think?
Post your review now