As Good As It Gets

Did this really need to be 138 minutes long? Aside from that, this is a reasonably entertaining comedy that allows Jack Nicholson to amuse himself (and us) for most of the running time. Melvin Udall (Jack) is an obsessive-compulsive romance novelist whose rude behavior alienates everyone he meets — everyone except Carol Connolly (Helen Hunt), the only waitress at his favorite restaurant who doesn’t refuse to wait on him. Carol has a sick little boy at home; Melvin helps her find a better doctor for the kid and asks her to go along with him on a trip with his Friendly Gay Neighbor (Greg Kinnear). Love ensues, naturally. This is really more of a better-than-average sitcom than a movie, but Nicholson and especially Hunt put it over; they won Best Actor and Actress Oscars. Score by Hans Zimmer; cinematography by John Bailey. Also with Skeet Ulrich and Jamie Kennedy (they have a scene together — it’s like a Scream reunion), Cuba Gooding Jr., Shirley Knight, Yeardley Smith, Brian Doyle-Murray, Harold Ramis, and cameos by Lawrence Kasdan, Todd Solondz, and Shane Black. Hilariously, it was retitled Mr. Cat Poop in Hong Kong.

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