About Schmidt

Released 2002
Stars Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, June Squibb, Kathy Bates, Howard Hessman
Directed by Alexander Payne
Reviewed June 12, 2003

Warren Schmidt is the definition of old school. When I joined the workforce in the late 80's, the Warren Schmidts were common. They were the guys who worked at the same company for 30-40 years while working themselves up the ladder to some position which would eventually become obsolete. They dreaded retirement, because they defined themselves by their jobs. Once they retired, they lost their purpose in life and their sense of who they were. I've known different men like this, and it's a sad situation. They were good people, but they didn't realize there's much more to life than work. Warren Schmidt was one of these men.

I really enjoyed this movie. I consider it a pure comedy, but it's a low-key, dark, somber humor. The very same material could have been used for a sad, painful drama, but the film, and probably the novel, chose to smile through its sad regrets. The letters to Ndugu are great comic relief, and they allow for a voice-over so we can get inside Warren's head. My favorite moment was when he wrote his first letter, which was a page-long rant about the misgivings of a 66 year-old man, and he felt it necessary to cross out the phrase "cocky bastard." Of course, the rest of the letter was perfectly acceptable for a 6 year-old African boy...

Jack Nicholson has been endlessly praised for this role, and the praise is well deserved. He gives a subdued, internalized performance that's a study in subtlety. I kept waiting for him to explode, but fortunately the script held him in check. What Jack brings to the role is a sense of sadness and desperation as he realizes how he's squandered his life. Through his body language alone, you can see a man who knows he's been defeated by life and there's not much he can do about it now, but you can also sense his desperation to try. Unfortunately, he's completely befuddled about where to start.

I look at this movie as an homage to the baby boomers and to the passing of a way of American life that existed for about 40 years. There won't be many people of my generation who will work for the same company for their entire career and fear retirement as the worst thing that could happen to them. This movie understands that, and it gives us a man who's completely lost without his position of respect to give him a sense of self-worth. After losing his wife, Warren eventually comes to grips with this, and he realizes he needs to reinvent himself. The problem is he's completely alone, and it doesn't help that he has no personality. His daughter is bitter because she feels he ignored her for his entire life, and he's going to have to work very hard to bridge that gap--especially with his new son-in-law in the picture.

We frequently hear how the American work ethic has changed between the baby boomers and the later generations, but not all changes have been bad. Large corporations used to be able to afford to be fat and inefficient, but that's a thing of the past. Now it's a constant stream of layoffs, mergers, and spinoffs designed to maximize a company's efficiency, and those companies no longer care about the workers as they did for the baby boomers. The newer generations have realized this, and we've changed with it. We've separated our careers from our families, and, as a whole, we like to play harder than we work. Many of us still work hard to build a career, but most of us understand our priorities. In my opinion, this is all good, and the lesson to take away from this movie is don't end up like Warren Schmidt.

Reviewed by Bill Alward
June 12, 2003
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