New On Netflix: About Schmidt

About Schmidt Trailer

Jack Nicholson delivers one of his most “non-Jack Nicholson” (and one of his best) performances ever in director Alexander Payne’s darkly bittersweet examination of an insurance actuary who struggles to find meaning in his life after he retires and his wife suddenly dies. He hits the road behind the wheel of a Winnebago, bound and determined to stop his daughter (Hope Davis) from marrying a waterbed salesman (Dermot Mulroney) whom he’s deemed unfit for his little girl, pausing occasionally to relate his experiences and feelings in rambling letters to the nine-year-old Tanzanian boy he sponsors. As this is an Alexander Payne movie, there are moments in About Schmidt so uncomfortable and cringe-worthy that you may be driven to cover your eyes and ears (and we’re not just talking about Kathy Bates’ now-notorious hot tub nude scene), but to do so would deprive you of relishing every single individual bit and nuance of Nicholson’s performance, which is truly sublime — rarely has Jack played a character so lost, vulnerable and sympathetic, and he truly immerses himself in a role that’s a far, far cry from the sunglasses-wearing aging playboy that he is off-screen. About Schmidt is sometimes needlessly mean-spirited (as are all of Payne’s movies), but its occasional nasty streak makes it all the more human.