movie review - About Schmidt
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-eight years and a million words
Toronto, 2003.09.29
I really can't see what all of the fuss was about with this movie. Jack Nicholson plays a cranky retiree who doesn't appreciate his wife or communicate with his daughter. He misses the routine of work, and loathes his daughter's fiance's family. A good start.
Except things don't really go anywhere from there. We meet the girl's family when Nicholson's "sad man" goes to his daughter's wedding (alone, for reasons that I won't go into). And yup, they're dysfunctional and pathetic. Just like Schmidt's own family.
I'm not really sure what the climax of this movie was. I think it was the man's speech at the wedding. And even that was only partially realized.
Not recommended.