About Schmidt

Tonight I saw About Schmidt at the Angelika since they are having a critic’s screening tomorrow. Before a critic’s screening the Angelika crew watch the movie to make sure it’s ready. This is the first time I’ve gotten to be part of that. It was neat to have the whole building to our small group (10 people or so) and see a movie even before the critics. Shawn even let us fill up on the beverages and popcorn for free.

For my thoughts and the slightest of spoilers read on…

It’s the new Alexander Payne (Citizen Ruth, Election) movie with Jack Nicholson. The IMDB summary is pretty good:> Warren Schmidt (Nicholson) is forced to deal with an ambiguous future as he enters retirement. Soon after, his wife passes away and he must come to terms with his daughter’s marriage to a man he does not care for and the failure that his life has become.

The style and the energy is very different from his previous films. Warren isn’t the kind of character that energizes a movie the way Tracy Flick, or the warring politicos in Citizen Ruth do. The most animated Warren ever gets is when he is writing his letters to Ndugu his “foster child” in Tanzania. It took me a bit to settle into the pace. As soon as Warren hit the road wandering through the Midwest I knew I’d found a kindred spirit. What has really struck me is that the movie is filled with wonderful details, and the space between those details leaves lots of room for contemplation and enjoyment of the movie beyond it’s two hours of screen time.

One of the standout scenes for me is when Warren has dinner with a couple at a campground. Alexander Payne’s direction is superb as he creates a creepy mood with camera angles and facial expressions while the dialogue is going in a different direction. He captures perfectly the Midwestern placidness while underneath the characters are nervous and scared. When the credits rolled I was surprised to see that they even had a separate Midwestern casting director. Of course, Payne is from Omaha so it should come as no surprise that he’s a thorough study of the character.

I think the movie comes out in limited release in December and wide release in January. While it has a narrative arc for Warren it’s really much more character driven. (i.e. no big enemy or crucible driving his actions. It’s Warren poking along through life wondering what the future will be and what he’s done with his time.) This is definitely one I will be watching at least one or two more times. I also plan to track down the Louis Begley book it’s based on. (Although reading about it on Amazon it sounds like the movie is better)