Premise of my critique: My wife and I go to the movies primarily for entertainment and secondarily to learn something. About Schmidt provides neither.
Almost everything that could go wrong for a guy (Schmidt) after he retires is depicted in detail through long (very long) scenes of no action: boring.
We all know that Jack and Kathy are going to give good performances- that is a given. But what a waste of talent to dwell on these aspects of life. I hope that none of this happens to me when I retire.
Yes, yes. Jack Nicholson gives a superb performance, but this alone does not a good movie make, and neither does a nude Kathy Bates. (Oh yes, you read correctly.)
The is no real humor - the audience has to supply the laughter, and you can feel the strain everyone goes through trying to find something (anything) at which to laugh. For example, they show some guy (just an unknown neighbor) taking out or throwing a bag of garbage, and some people laugh. Why, what is funny?
Nicholson 'adopts' a poor kid in a foreign country, and this becomes an important part of the movie. Both my wife and I thought (hoped) that eventually this would provide some real humor, but it does not. Instead, they portray this as real; that is, that Mr. Schmidt's contribution makes it possible to actually 'adopt' a child. And there is even a letter from some 'sister' (nun) writing about the 'adopted child'. BUNK! I can tell you that from personal experience. Most of those child-adoption programs are scams!
There may have been two or three funny scenes throughout the movie, but overall, it was one of the most boring movies we have seen.
Almost everything that could go wrong for a guy (Schmidt) after he retires is depicted in detail through long (very long) scenes of no action: boring.
We all know that Jack and Kathy are going to give good performances- that is a given. But what a waste of talent to dwell on these aspects of life. I hope that none of this happens to me when I retire.
Yes, yes. Jack Nicholson gives a superb performance, but this alone does not a good movie make, and neither does a nude Kathy Bates. (Oh yes, you read correctly.)
The is no real humor - the audience has to supply the laughter, and you can feel the strain everyone goes through trying to find something (anything) at which to laugh. For example, they show some guy (just an unknown neighbor) taking out or throwing a bag of garbage, and some people laugh. Why, what is funny?
Nicholson 'adopts' a poor kid in a foreign country, and this becomes an important part of the movie. Both my wife and I thought (hoped) that eventually this would provide some real humor, but it does not. Instead, they portray this as real; that is, that Mr. Schmidt's contribution makes it possible to actually 'adopt' a child. And there is even a letter from some 'sister' (nun) writing about the 'adopted child'. BUNK! I can tell you that from personal experience. Most of those child-adoption programs are scams!
There may have been two or three funny scenes throughout the movie, but overall, it was one of the most boring movies we have seen.