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If I were a native New Yorker, would I get excited every
time I saw a movie set in New York? It's hard to imagine,
since so many movies are filmed there. Anything from big huge
blockbusters like Spider Man to the quiet and charming
Edward Burns character studies, the Big Apple has received
every conceivable cinematic treatment. So when I watch a movie
from director Alexander Payne, like the new self-discovery
epic About Schmidt, I have to admit excitement when
I see characters talk about Lawrence,KS, when a scene is filmed
in Ogallala, NE or when I see Jack Nicholson cruising down
I-29 and I-80. There's something recognizable up there and
it's relieving there are artists working who capture the Midwestern
experience. Frankly, those of us in the "flyovers"
couldn't be in better hands than with Payne. The director,
a native of Omaha,NE and the force behind masterful satire
such as Citizen Ruth and Election, has an understanding
of the look and the feel of characters and the location they
populate. His films may be cynical, biting, and oddly touching
but they all share a quiet deliberation that allows the actors
to breathe an incredibly visual version of storytelling. With
Schmidt, Payne takes his style up a notch by focusing
on an aged insurance man (Jack Nicholson) who must deal with
the sorrow and disappointment of life. And instead of losing
his edge as many would with this kind of leap, he creates
a film that encompasses the emotional portrait of the American
man.
Nicholson, even in his sixties, is still considered a "sexy
leading man" and many argued that he could not pull off
the performance of a "common man" like Warren Schmidt.
But this argument is blown away in the opening scene as Schmidt
sits in his office on the day of his retirement, his life
work stacked up in white boxes in the corner, as he watches
the clock hit 5 o'clock as though he had been waiting for
this his entire career. Nicholson's trademark charisma is
nowhere to be found, overshadowed by a bad combover, clothes
that accentuate his weight, and a look of sad disgust. Warren
has spent most of his life as an actuary for Woodman Insurers
in downtown Omaha. He has just been set out to pasture, to
be replaced with a fresh new stud. I wouldn't be making the
bull analogies if the film hadn't done it for me already.
At his retirement party, Warren's portrait sits next to pictures
of prized bovine from a state fair of yesteryear. Warren drives
down the interstate and makes eye contact with cattle on their
way to slaughter, desperate to outpace their glares. But Warren
is not a man content to passing at the end of a life irrelevant
as the contents of a BigMac. After a series of disheartening
and tragic events, Warren hits the road in his "Adventurer"
Winnebago to take a whirlwind tour of his life before heading
to Denver to watch his daughter Jeannie (Hope Davis) marry
Randall (Dermot Mulrony), a loser waterbed salesman who's
big into the trendy new pyramid schemes. The route from Omaha
to Denver leads him to a comically pathetic discovery at his
boyhood home, a visit to his alma mater "K---U!"
(Editor's note: While exterior shots were actually filmed
at the University of Kansas, they were edited out and the
remainder scenes were shot at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
a much uglier campus. This deletion of these scenes still
does not discount the superiority of KU. Rock-Chalk Jayhawk!),
and a misguided attempt to reach out to a fellow camper
at a road stop. Warren is not that impressed with Randall
and he is even more horrified to meet his family, especially
Roberta (Kathy Bates), a rather amorous divorcee and Randall's
mother who loves talking about her hysterectomy. Warren wants
to prevent Jeannie from marrying Randall, but ends up learning
a strong lesson about acceptance and offering hope to others.
Or something like that.
About Schmidt knows the people and the places of the
Midwest. Omaha is filmed in this consistently gray overcast
that is only broken up by the slight skyline and the brightness
of the neon signs of chain stores and strip malls. The Woodman
Insurance company sticks penetrates the sky like a symbol
of the resilient manhood that no longer exists in its offices.
The mere fact that the only light in the city comes from O'Reiley's
Auto Parts and Mailboxes Etc. is telling of the pervasive
landscape of the gothic Midwest. Once Warren hits the road,
the atmosphere feels warmer and more inviting on the journey.
The blue sky and green fields of Nebraska and Kansas during
his trip are only broken up by bright, white grain silos.
The shifts in the tone of photography is only a tenuous template
for the characters. Schmidt is ultimately on a mission of
self-discovery, but only comes to learn that there may not
a self to discover. Instead of forcing the actors to deliver
big proclamations on aging and death and whatever, Payne chooses
silence and images. Presumably, comedies about abortions,
political sex scandals, and death would seemingly bombard
the audience with excessively witty banter and extraneously
staged circumstances. But Payne allows his camera to linger
on his actors. Watching Warren wander around his house in
distressed anxiousness after his retirement, the moment conveys
humor and pity without delegating dialogue which would have
to pick one over the other seemingly exclusive emotions. Or
the scene where he sneaks out of the house to get a Blizzard
at Dairy Queen for a guilty pleasure. But Warren is so reserved
in his life that he holds backs and only gets a medium. In
the end, it always goes back to the fact that Payne believes
that simple human behavior is funnier than anything that can
be written. Of course, this is not to say that the film crutches
itself on inertia. About Schmidt incorporates one of
the best narrative structures in a story I've seen in awhile.
Warren, in his retirement-induced boredom, clicks through
TV and becomes intrigued by one of those "For only $22
a month, you can prevent a child in Africa from starving"
advertisement. He sends in a check and later learns that he
has "adopted" Nguba, a six-year boy in Tanzania.
He begins sending the boy pen pal letters that mainly function
as therapy for Warren. This kid has no ability to understand
what he is writing yet Warren uses this relationship as his
one real connection to another person. While most of what
he writes may come off as insensitive and dense- "You
should really think about pledging a fraternity when you're
old enough", Warren writes- the letters serve as points
of self-realization. Some have gone so far as to calling this
portion of About Schmidt as cynical and mean-spirited.
But I disagree. People have to connect with others in unconventional
ways. This is just another way of Payne showing us grief and
sadness don't come out so nice and neat. This is his statement
on the oddities of the human condition.
All of the credit cannot simply be given to director/co-writer
Payne. I touched upon earlier that Jack Nicholson inhibits
Warren Schmidt in a way that makes you forget that he is Jack
Nicholson. His shuffles as opposed to walking, his Izod shirts
fit too snug, and Nicholson seems to embrace the wrinkles
that have crept into his face. For an actor notorious for
defying his age, he embraces it here so beautifully. He allows
for his largely quiet role to be humbling at times and horribly
sad at others. He understands that Warren is a guy who had
big dreams early in his life and now is just trying to look
for a glimmer of hope, whether it be from a cruise in the
Adventurer through southern Nebraska or by giving a poor child
a check. He embraces this notion of hope and that allows the
rest of the film to follow his lead. And while Davis and Mulrony
are great in the supporting cast, Bates is beyond exception.
Her role feels like the horny chick in a pitiful sitcom, but
Bates is able to venture into daring directions. She is so
free spirited to an extreme level that the inhibited Warren
looks like he may bust at any point by just being in her presence.
It's a perfect counterpoint, no better exemplified in the
much talked about scene where she strips down for a potentially
and nightmarish soak in a hot tub. It's an exhilarating moment
in the acting of the film. In the end, About Schmidt dares
us to think about sex and death and living in the heartland
without throwing it in our face. It lingers in humor or it
lingers in sadness. These human feelings are strong in Omaha
just as much as it is in New York City. Thank goodness a film
like About Schmidt can bring us all closer together.
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