![]() ![]() Kelly Fremon Craig’s directorial debut confronts millennial teens with the same authenticity and verve that helped “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” jumpstart a revolution when it crash-landed into the ’80s. She might be a bit too good (and a bit too old) for Melvil, but, well, she makes him want to be a better man. It’s Helen Hunt, however, who provides the heart and soul of this now-unfundable story, playing a kind waitress with a sick kid and little hope for a brighter tomorrow. Neither Melvin, nor a gay neighbor played by Greg Kinnear, would be able to escape the buzzsaw of public opinion if this film came out today, but their relationship still holds together thanks to the inviolable bond of movie logic. Jack Nicholson gives one of his best (or at least one of his most) performances as the crotchety Melvin Udall, an obsessive-compulsive writer who bullies everyone in his path, and their little dogs, too. “As Good As it Gets” isn’t quite as good as it gets it lacks the emotional force that defined “Terms of Endearment” and the whip-smart sense of purpose that carried “Broadcast News.” Nevertheless, this Oscar favorite is charming in spite of itself, and contains enough strong character work to sustain an entire season of a Netflix show. Even the most labored and uncomfortably mannered of his romantic treatises on human neuroses (or his neurotic treatises on romantic humans) are essential viewing. The further we go into the future - and the more that movie theaters are dominated by superhero epics and Freddie Mercury biopics - the easier it gets to long for the glory days of two-and-a-half-hour James L. And, just for good measure, it’s also capped off with history’s most uncomfortable rendition of “Killing Me Softly with His Song.” All in an effort for this motley crew of shipwrecked characters to learn that no man - or woman, or little kid with an ill-advised bowl cut - is an island.įor what it’s worth, “American Pie” (and its sequels) are also now streaming on Netflix. ![]() At the time, however, it was shocking to see them deliver a film as raw and well-realized as “About a Boy.”ĭetailing the unlikely friendship between a misanthropic bachelor and a misfit British pre-teen, this snide (but never cynical) movie is bolstered by a then-revelatory performance by Hugh Grant, a remarkably nuanced debut from 12-year-old Nicholas Hoult, and standout supporting work from Toni Collette and Rachel Weisz. It’s still hard to believe that Chris and Paul Weitz followed the breakthrough success of “American Pie” - an epochal ode to high school horniness - with a Chris Rock version of “Heaven Can Wait,” and an unerringly sweet Nick Hornby adaptation, but those two guys always had bigger things on their mind than just discovering John Cho, pioneering the erotic pleasures and pitfalls of webcams, and forever tainting the basic concept of band camp (both continue to be successful filmmakers, and Chris has been an instrumental force behind powerhouse indies like “Columbus” and “The Farewell”). ![]()
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