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About Schmidt

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About Schmidt

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Summary

Comedy drama starring Jack Nicholson as Warren Schmidt, a former insurance company actuary who is struggling to cope with life after retirement. When his wife dies suddenly, Schmidt takes off in a luxury motor-home on a trip to attend his daughter's wedding. He meets several odd characters along the way - but can any of them convince him that his life has been anything but worthless?

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Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Jason Caro

Jack Nicholson has built a career on playing lunatics, misfits and colourful characters, but rarely has he had the opportunity to portray someone as unexceptional as Warren Schmidt and he does an exceptionally good job in this endearing tragicomedy from director Alexander Payne. Nicholson plays a man who feels disconnected from his own life, a mood brought on by forced retirement, the sudden death of his wife and his daughter's impending marriage to a man he regards as a loser. His road trip to her wedding is the start of a very offbeat journey for the lonely, alienated Schmidt, as a subdued, almost glum Nicholson gets to grips with new beginnings. It's funnier than it sounds as the film's quirky approach to this late-life crisis is typified by Schmidt's hilarious outpouring of pent-up bitterness in his letters to a Tanzanian orphan that he has sponsored. While this is not a movie of great dramatic or comic peaks, the star's restrained, poignant performance nevertheless extracts meaning from the smallest moments.

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7.2/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameWarren SchmidtJack NicholsonJeannieHope DavisRandall HertzelDermot MulroneyRoberta HertzelKathy BatesRayLen CariouLarryHoward HessemanHelen SchmidtJune SquibbJohnHarry Groener

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Crew

rolenameDirectorAlexander Payne

Details

Theatrical distributor

Entertainment

Released on

2003-01-24

Languages

English

Guidance

Contains violence and swearing.

Available on

video and DVD

Formats

Colour

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