![\"Jack](\"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/aboutschmidt.jpg\" "\\"aboutschmidt\\"")
Jack Nicholson is less than thrilled daughter Hope Davis brought home Dermot Mulroney and his ponytail, widow's peak, mullet, goatee, and Amway pitch<\/p><\/div>\n
The Quiet Man<\/span><\/em><\/h1>\n[xrr rating=4.5\/5]<\/p>\n
About Schmidt<\/strong><\/em>. Starring Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, June Squibb, and Howard Hesseman.\u00a0 Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor. Based on the novel by Louis Begley. Directed by Alexander Payne. (New Line Cinema, 2002, Color, 125 minutes. MPAA Rating: R.)<\/strong><\/p>\nAlexander Payne\u2019s new movie, About Schmidt<\/em>, opened in the Philadelphia area this Friday. I have been hearing about it since its limited run began, particularly on conservative talk radio, and some hosts and callers have dismissed it as \u201cwhat happens when Hollywood makes fun of Midwesterners and Midwestern values.\u201d Well, there\u2019s some truth to that, but I don\u2019t see the source so much as Hollywood, as much as a dead-on self-critique and reflection that could have only come from screenwriters who themselves are part and parcel of the Midwest plains states. Payne and co-scenarist Jim Taylor (who also co-wrote Citizen Ruth<\/em> and Election<\/em> with Payne) have made a masterpiece of a character study in finding out what makes stoic and enigmatic Warren Schmidt tick.<\/p>\nWhen I was in high school, I had an English teacher who introduced me to a writer who would become my favorite novelist, Sinclair Lewis. Main Street<\/em>, Babbitt<\/em>, and Arrowsmith<\/em> accurately captured the plain-spoken and dry humor of the region, through Lewis\u2019s naturalistic writing style. But Lewis was more than a recorder of the everyday people around him, he was a master of keen observation and insight, and seeing the quirky denizens of Zenith and Gopher Prairie through his eyes filled me as a reader with the sense of what I call the \u201cinner adventure.\u201d<\/p>\nWhat Lewis had going for him as a novelist, Alexander Payne has as a moviemaker: The same sense of wry observation, absurd humor that arises out of awkward and painful situations, and biting social commentary that never wallows into the territory of judgmental didacticism. To me, Jack Nicholson\u2019s portrayal of Warren Schmidt is, like Main Street<\/em>\u2019s <\/em>Carol Kennicott, an angry loner, dissatisfied with the world around him. But, whereas Main Street<\/em> follows Carol out of college and into a stifling marriage\u2014in which she can only survive by suppressing her innate romanticism and adventurism\u2014About Schmidt<\/em> catches its tragicomic hero at the tail end of his life, after decades of lonely emotional withholding have dried up the once puissant earnestness and ambition he once had. He lives his life, as Thoreau penned, \u201cin quiet desperation.\u201d<\/p>\nI agree with many, however, who have said, \u201cI don’t know what to make of this movie.\u201d Not that I don\u2019t know what to make of it, but I agree that they<\/em> don\u2019t. There are many times when Nicholson just keeps a stiff upper lip, and tries sailing through awkward situations by responding with pained silence. And, although some genuine humor came out of some of those scenes, such as scenes in an R.V. park, and one scene in the hot tub with Kathy Bates, many of the theatergoers in attendance laughed at each and every one of his silences, as if on cue, or as if waiting or expecting to be prodded. It is something I first picked up on when seeing Hitchcock\u2019s 1964 flawed classic Marnie<\/em> at an Austin theater a few years ago, that people break out into nervous laughter during awkward or silent moments. It is a discomforting thing for people to have to face, and stirs the reflexive reaction of the viewer to equally awkward giggling or laughter, rather than having to face the protagonist\u2019s silence with their own. Of course, as allegedly \u201cpassive\u201d participants, it is unintentional on their part.<\/p>\nYet, the ending to About Schmidt<\/em> (which I won\u2019t give away) was a poignant and cathartic moment, but is the only moment when catharsis is permitted the viewer, inasmuch as we the viewers are handed a veritable table of permissible emotions. Up to that point, Schmidt is a repressor, and likewise viewers<\/em> repress any honest emotional response to his character. That\u2019s where Payne really got his point across, in spades: It was just as interesting listening to the audience reactions as it was watching Payne\u2019s characters on the screen acting out theirs.<\/p>\nAs for the movie as a whole, I enjoyed it thoroughly, and was both entertained and enlightened. The supporting cast was excellent, though two-dimensional. This is by design, because we are viewing these offbeat people through the subjective eyes of Warren Schmidt. Dermot Mulroney as the loutish, Amway-pushing son-in-law-to-be is perfect casting, with his annoying ponytailed mullet, widow\u2019s peak, porkchop sideburns, and cheesy goatee. Howard Hesseman and Kathy Bates also liven the cast with their aging-hippie-cum-white-trash characterizations. \u2028I especially enjoyed the hot tub scene with a nude Kathy Bates. It took a lot of courage for Payne to do that, because Bates is overweight, aging and doesn’t fit the image what the fashionistas tell us is beautiful. But lemme tell ya, she is one beautiful woman, and exudes so much self-assuredness and expressiveness. I hope some able sculptor poses her for a Venus statue. It would be much more alluring and fascinating than one of any of the current crop of starved waifs Us <\/em>magazine tries to ram down our throats.<\/p>\nAnother nice touch is using Erik Satie\u2019s Gnossiennes<\/em> in the soundtrack. Any other director would have used something more obvious, such as Debussy or even Chopin to convey Warren Schmidt\u2019s overwhelming sense of solitude and irresolution. Satie\u2019s music melds seamlessly and beautifully with Nicholson\u2019s onscreen solitary wanderlust.<\/p>\nAbout Schmidt<\/em> is not Payne\u2019s funniest movie (Election<\/em> wins that, hands down) nor his most satirical (Citizen Ruth<\/em> pushes the envelope a lot farther than this one). However, through Warren Schmidt\u2019s journey into the undiscovered self, Payne has crafted a masterpiece of understated comedic drama on par with Woody Allen\u2019s Crimes and Misdemeanors<\/em> or Wes Anderson\u2019s Rushmore.<\/em><\/p>\nRobert L. Jones is a photojournalist living and working in Minnesota. His work has appeared in\u00a0<\/span>Black & White Magazine<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Entrepreneur<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Hoy! New York<\/span><\/span>, the New York\u00a0<\/span>Post<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/em>RCA Victor\u00a0<\/span>(Japan)<\/span><\/em>,\u00a0<\/span>Scene in San Antonio<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Spirit Magazine<\/span><\/span>\u00a0(Canada),\u00a0<\/span>Top Producer<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0 and the Trenton\u00a0<\/span>Times<\/span><\/span>. Mr. Jones is a past entertainment editor of\u00a0<\/span>The New Individualist<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 The Quiet Man [xrr rating=4.5\/5] About Schmidt. Starring Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, June Squibb, and Howard Hesseman.\u00a0 Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor. Based on the novel by Louis Begley. Directed by Alexander Payne. (New Line Cinema, 2002, Color, 125 minutes. MPAA Rating: R.) Alexander Payne\u2019s new movie, About […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,37,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedies","category-independent-films","category-mreview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=209"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":516,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions\/516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Alexander Payne\u2019s new movie, About Schmidt<\/em>, opened in the Philadelphia area this Friday. I have been hearing about it since its limited run began, particularly on conservative talk radio, and some hosts and callers have dismissed it as \u201cwhat happens when Hollywood makes fun of Midwesterners and Midwestern values.\u201d Well, there\u2019s some truth to that, but I don\u2019t see the source so much as Hollywood, as much as a dead-on self-critique and reflection that could have only come from screenwriters who themselves are part and parcel of the Midwest plains states. Payne and co-scenarist Jim Taylor (who also co-wrote Citizen Ruth<\/em> and Election<\/em> with Payne) have made a masterpiece of a character study in finding out what makes stoic and enigmatic Warren Schmidt tick.<\/p>\n When I was in high school, I had an English teacher who introduced me to a writer who would become my favorite novelist, Sinclair Lewis. Main Street<\/em>, Babbitt<\/em>, and Arrowsmith<\/em> accurately captured the plain-spoken and dry humor of the region, through Lewis\u2019s naturalistic writing style. But Lewis was more than a recorder of the everyday people around him, he was a master of keen observation and insight, and seeing the quirky denizens of Zenith and Gopher Prairie through his eyes filled me as a reader with the sense of what I call the \u201cinner adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n What Lewis had going for him as a novelist, Alexander Payne has as a moviemaker: The same sense of wry observation, absurd humor that arises out of awkward and painful situations, and biting social commentary that never wallows into the territory of judgmental didacticism. To me, Jack Nicholson\u2019s portrayal of Warren Schmidt is, like Main Street<\/em>\u2019s <\/em>Carol Kennicott, an angry loner, dissatisfied with the world around him. But, whereas Main Street<\/em> follows Carol out of college and into a stifling marriage\u2014in which she can only survive by suppressing her innate romanticism and adventurism\u2014About Schmidt<\/em> catches its tragicomic hero at the tail end of his life, after decades of lonely emotional withholding have dried up the once puissant earnestness and ambition he once had. He lives his life, as Thoreau penned, \u201cin quiet desperation.\u201d<\/p>\n I agree with many, however, who have said, \u201cI don’t know what to make of this movie.\u201d Not that I don\u2019t know what to make of it, but I agree that they<\/em> don\u2019t. There are many times when Nicholson just keeps a stiff upper lip, and tries sailing through awkward situations by responding with pained silence. And, although some genuine humor came out of some of those scenes, such as scenes in an R.V. park, and one scene in the hot tub with Kathy Bates, many of the theatergoers in attendance laughed at each and every one of his silences, as if on cue, or as if waiting or expecting to be prodded. It is something I first picked up on when seeing Hitchcock\u2019s 1964 flawed classic Marnie<\/em> at an Austin theater a few years ago, that people break out into nervous laughter during awkward or silent moments. It is a discomforting thing for people to have to face, and stirs the reflexive reaction of the viewer to equally awkward giggling or laughter, rather than having to face the protagonist\u2019s silence with their own. Of course, as allegedly \u201cpassive\u201d participants, it is unintentional on their part.<\/p>\n Yet, the ending to About Schmidt<\/em> (which I won\u2019t give away) was a poignant and cathartic moment, but is the only moment when catharsis is permitted the viewer, inasmuch as we the viewers are handed a veritable table of permissible emotions. Up to that point, Schmidt is a repressor, and likewise viewers<\/em> repress any honest emotional response to his character. That\u2019s where Payne really got his point across, in spades: It was just as interesting listening to the audience reactions as it was watching Payne\u2019s characters on the screen acting out theirs.<\/p>\n As for the movie as a whole, I enjoyed it thoroughly, and was both entertained and enlightened. The supporting cast was excellent, though two-dimensional. This is by design, because we are viewing these offbeat people through the subjective eyes of Warren Schmidt. Dermot Mulroney as the loutish, Amway-pushing son-in-law-to-be is perfect casting, with his annoying ponytailed mullet, widow\u2019s peak, porkchop sideburns, and cheesy goatee. Howard Hesseman and Kathy Bates also liven the cast with their aging-hippie-cum-white-trash characterizations. \u2028I especially enjoyed the hot tub scene with a nude Kathy Bates. It took a lot of courage for Payne to do that, because Bates is overweight, aging and doesn’t fit the image what the fashionistas tell us is beautiful. But lemme tell ya, she is one beautiful woman, and exudes so much self-assuredness and expressiveness. I hope some able sculptor poses her for a Venus statue. It would be much more alluring and fascinating than one of any of the current crop of starved waifs Us <\/em>magazine tries to ram down our throats.<\/p>\n Another nice touch is using Erik Satie\u2019s Gnossiennes<\/em> in the soundtrack. Any other director would have used something more obvious, such as Debussy or even Chopin to convey Warren Schmidt\u2019s overwhelming sense of solitude and irresolution. Satie\u2019s music melds seamlessly and beautifully with Nicholson\u2019s onscreen solitary wanderlust.<\/p>\n About Schmidt<\/em> is not Payne\u2019s funniest movie (Election<\/em> wins that, hands down) nor his most satirical (Citizen Ruth<\/em> pushes the envelope a lot farther than this one). However, through Warren Schmidt\u2019s journey into the undiscovered self, Payne has crafted a masterpiece of understated comedic drama on par with Woody Allen\u2019s Crimes and Misdemeanors<\/em> or Wes Anderson\u2019s Rushmore.<\/em><\/p>\n Robert L. Jones is a photojournalist living and working in Minnesota. His work has appeared in\u00a0<\/span>Black & White Magazine<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Entrepreneur<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Hoy! New York<\/span><\/span>, the New York\u00a0<\/span>Post<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/em>RCA Victor\u00a0<\/span>(Japan)<\/span><\/em>,\u00a0<\/span>Scene in San Antonio<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Spirit Magazine<\/span><\/span>\u00a0(Canada),\u00a0<\/span>Top Producer<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0 and the Trenton\u00a0<\/span>Times<\/span><\/span>. Mr. Jones is a past entertainment editor of\u00a0<\/span>The New Individualist<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 The Quiet Man [xrr rating=4.5\/5] About Schmidt. Starring Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, June Squibb, and Howard Hesseman.\u00a0 Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor. Based on the novel by Louis Begley. Directed by Alexander Payne. (New Line Cinema, 2002, Color, 125 minutes. MPAA Rating: R.) Alexander Payne\u2019s new movie, About […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,37,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedies","category-independent-films","category-mreview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=209"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":516,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions\/516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}