Review of As Good as It Gets (1997) by Vassilis T — 14 Aug 2009

Words cannot express how awesome this film is. Everytime I see it I cannot help but burst out laughing and burst into tears in equal measure. Everything about it is perfect. The quality of the acting, the subtle yet purposeful direction and warm true to life visuals all help squeeze the most out of what is an incredibly touching script.

The film is about how passion for things, and for the people we love help us overcome the problems that we face in our everyday lives. It is also about that when you love someone, you both have to face compromise to get it to work and that because of compromising stuff you thought you had to do you can be a better person because of it.

Jack Nicholson definitely deserved his Oscar for his performance as Melvin, a crazy author who has OCD, by managing to make him totally believable. It could have been so easy for him to go all out nuts and overact, taking away the charm and the warmth from his performance that lets us truely feel sorry for and sympathise with his character.

All the other cast members were exceptional as well, with the guy who played the gay dude doing especially well. His performace as the man who is the complete opposite of Melvin and wears his emotions on his sleeve is especially important to make sure the film works. Helen Hunt does pretty nifty too and so many scenes in the film make me smile just because of the expressions on her face.

The best thing about the film has to be the writing though. The are times in other films when lines of movie dialogue are seen as being exactly movie dialogue, but in As Good As It Gets everything seems real. The words are how a real person would say things, not just silly soundbites that are charged up with emotional language that fools you into thinking they are deep and meaningful. Everything just feels true and natural, which really helps the movie swallow you whole until you are deep inside its warm, snuggly belly surrounded by the reality it creates and feeling every last trace of emotion.

What is also really important to get across is that the film is also absolutely hilarious! There are the immediately amusing one-liners that make you chuckle and smile, but the film also manages to do more than this, setting it miles apart from your average comedy that throws around random words and and "zany" situations. Since you get so involved with the intricacies and quirks of each of the characters, the biggest laughs you will get out of the film are by simple facial expressions or the odd emphasised word that lets you know exactly what the character is thinking.

You should really, REALLY watch this film. It is a masterpiece. It only gets better on repeat viewings as well. At the risk of being extremely cliche and cheesy, as far as romantic comedys go, it really is As Good As It Gets!