About Schmidt is a 2002 American film directed by Alexander Payne and starring Jack Nicholson as Warren Schmidt and Hope Davis as his daughter Jeannie. It is loosely based on the 1996 novel of the same title by Louis Begley. Many of the scenes were filmed on location, especially in Omaha, Nebraska and Denver, Colorado. According to the special features on the DVD, a number of non-professional local residents appeared in the film, portraying their real-life professions. The actual Woodmen of the World headquarters building in Omaha was utilized in the film.
The main narrative of the film follows Schmidt as he goes on a road trip in order to attend the wedding of his only daughter to a man and into a family he does not particularly like.
Plot
Warren Schmidt is retiring from his position as an actuary with an insurance company in Omaha, Nebraska. Schmidt finds it hard to adjust to his new life and feels useless. One evening, he sees a television advertisement about a foster program for African children. He soon receives an information package with a photo of his foster child, a small Tanzanian boy named Ndugu Umbo, to whom he relates his life in a series of rambling letters.
Schmidt is given an impersonal retirement dinner. He visits his young successor's office to offer his help, but he is not needed. As he leaves the building, Schmidt sees the contents and files of his office in the basement, set out for garbage collectors.
He describes to Ndugu his longtime alienation from his wife, who suddenly dies from a blood clot in her brain just after his retirement and their purchase of a Winnebago motor home. Friends arrive, along with his only daughter Jeannie and her fiance Randall Hertzel from Denver. They console him at the funeral, but he argues with Jeannie over money and the casket.
Schmidt feels that Randall, a water-bed salesman, is unsuited to his daughter. Randall recommends the book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" by Harold Kushner to Schmidt and then tries to entice him into a pyramid scheme. After the couple leaves, Schmidt is alone.
He stops showering, is shown sleeping in front of the television, and going outside with a coat over pajamas to load up on frozen foods in the supermarket. In a closet he discovers some hidden love letters disclosing his wife's long-ago affair with a mutual friend. Schmidt angrily confronts him.
In order to find some control in his life, he decides to take a journey alone in his new Winnebago to see his daughter and convince her not to marry. When he phones her, en route, to tell her he is coming a few weeks earlier than planned, Jeannie insists that he not arrive until shortly before the wedding.
Schmidt visits places from his past. His childhood home has been replaced by a tire shop. While at a trailer campground, he is a dinner guest of a friendly and sympathetic couple, but is thrown out after he makes a pass at the wife.
Schmidt arrives in Denver and stays at the home of Randall's mother. He wakes after a night in a water bed with severe pain. He meets the fiancé's family and again tries to dissuade Jeannie from the marriage. Schmidt flees after the mother makes a pass at him in a hot tub. Schmidt attends the wedding and delivers a kind speech at the dinner, hiding his disapproval.
Upon returning home to Omaha, his narrative to the orphan Ndugu questions what he has accomplished in life. Schmidt laments that he will soon be dead and that no one will remember him.
A pile of mail is waiting for him inside the empty house. Schmidt opens a surprise letter from Tanzania. It is from a nun, who writes that Ndugu is illiterate but enjoys Schmidt's letters and financial aid very much. With the money, Ndugu was able to receive medical care to treat an eye infection. The little boy's hand-drawn picture is enclosed, showing two smiling stick figures, one large and one small, holding hands in the blazing sun. Schmidt weeps, realizing that someone has benefited from his life after all.
Cast
Classification
The movie is rated R ("Restricted; Under 17 Requires Accompanying Parent or Adult Guardian") in the United States for some profanity and some brief nudity in a scene where Randall's sexually candid mother Roberta (played by Kathy Bates) tries to seduce Schmidt in a hot tub.
Awards
Jack Nicholson was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 2003 and Kathy Bates was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
The film won a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture, as well as the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama. (Nicholson stated: "I'm a little surprised. I thought we made a comedy.").
It was also nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.[1]
Box office
- Opening weekend U.S. gross: $8,533,162
- Total U.S. box office gross: $65,010,106
See also
References
External links
