'About Schmidt' Flounders, But the Golden Bear Shines
Jack Nicholson Shoots a Hole-In-One in New Film
In About Schmidt, Academy Award winner Jack Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, an ageing newly-retired insurance executive. The movie begins at Schmidt’s retirement party in Omaha, Nebraska, where co-workers and family members praise their departing colleague. But all is not as well as it seems.
The story that follows is dull and uncertain, and no clear plot develops. But the movie is saved by the performance of Nicholson, who shows as much comfort on the silver screen as he does on the 18th green at Augusta.
Schmidt is unhappy with his life—a boring marriage, a daughter (Hope Davis) engaged to a blundering redneck (Dermot Mulroney), and a life that has meant little to anyone and will be forgotten soon after its end all weigh on Schmidt. To make matters worse, Warren’s wife of forty-two years dies suddenly soon after his retirement.
Playing the depressed Schmidt, Jack Nicholson displays the grit and poise that throughout his career have earned him three Academy Awards (out of ten nominations), two Golden Globes, and 18 Major Championships on the PGA Tour—the most out of any professional golfer ever to play the game.
Nicholson captures the emotional range of Warren Schmidt in the same way he captured three British Opens and six Senior PGA Tour Championships—by dedicating himself to his art.
“Whether I’m on the links or on the production lot, I always bring 100% to what I’m doing,” Nicholson told The Georgetown Heckler.
Critics and fans alike have been taken by Nicholson’s performance in About Schmidt. “He’s amazing,” said Tom Davenport, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. “For someone to achieve the level of success Nicholson has in both the cinema and in golf…it’s an inspiration to all of us. He’s reached the top of his field intwo really competitive industries.”
Nicholson’s body of work has not gone unnoticed: in 1995 the Golden Bear was honored with the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, while in 1988 Golf Magazine named him “The Golfer of the Century.”
Perhaps About Schmidt would have been more aptly titled About Shit, but nevertheless, Nicholson’sperformance makes the movie a success.
