I remember when this came out, the advertising was all about Jack Nicholson's Melvin Udall, who was billed as Archie Bunker with the offensiveness dialed up to eleven, and the film itself billed as a typical "grumpy mean guy learns to love" tale or something of that nature. And yes, it is that, but the movie is a lot more intelligent and insightful about it than that basic plot description makes it sound. It's not just about Melvin and his goofy infatuation with his server (Carol Connelly, played by Helen Hunt) at the restaurant on which he has chosen to inflict his aggressive OCD tendencies, and very early on the film affords us glimpses into Melvin that suggest that there's a lot more than just jerkiness going on under his skin -- such as the look on his face when he slips up and says something to Carol that's way over the line, and he realizes it's way over the line before she tells him point-blank how over the line it was.
Anyway, As Good As It Gets is chock-full of quotable dialog, some of which has become fairly well-known over the years. I'm sure the movie will show up again on this feature, but for now, here's a wonderful scene that gets overlooked. What's happening here is that Melvin has been strong-armed into taking his gay artist neighbor, Simon, to Baltimore so Simon can beg his estranged parents for money. Sensing an opportunity, Melvin then convinces Carol to go along, which she does, because she's desperate for a chance to see something other than the restaurant where she works, the apartment where she lives, and the hospital where she takes her sickly son. The problem, for Melvin, is that Carol and Simon quickly form a friendly connection that Melvin sees as some kind of threatening: not a romantic rivalry, per se, but a competition for time with Carol that he feels is rightly his. And Melvin can't help himself but inject some of his own insight, which the film treats brilliantly as both annoying and partly true.
I think that's a big reason why this movie is so good: Melvin can be annoying and offensive and downright full of shit, but there are times when it's clear that he's also right, at least in part. This is one of them.
EXT. ROAD - DAY
A short time later. Carol is now driving.
CAROL
I'm sure, Simon, they did
something real off for you to feel
this way... But when it comes to
your partners -- or your kid --
things will always be off for you
unless you set it straight. Maybe
this thing happened to you just to
give you that chance.
MELVIN
Nonsense!
CAROL
Anybody here who's interested in
what Melvin has to say raise their
hands.
Simon does not raise his hand. Simon and Carol have thus
declared their majority.
SIMON
Do you want to know what happened
with my parents?
CAROL
Yes. I really would.
SIMON
Well...
CAROL
No, let me pull over so I can pay
full attention.
Car pulling over toward parking spot.
EXT. HIGHWAY - CURBSIDE - CONVERTIBLE - DAY
She takes the car curbside and parks.
CAROL
Now go ahead.
Simon looks back at Melvin as does Carol. He looks
innocent. Several beats -- Melvin almost says something
-- a hidden hand gesture from Carol stops him. Finally.
SIMON
Well, I always painted. Always.
And my mother always encouraged
it. She was sort of fabulous
about it actually... and she used
to... I was too young to think
there was anything at all wrong
with it... and she was very
natural. She used to pose nude
for me... and I thought or assumed
my father was aware of it.
MELVIN
This stuff is pointless.
CAROL
Hey -- you let him...
MELVIN
You like sad stories -- you want
mine.
CARL
Stop. Go ahead, Simon. Really.
Please. Don't let him stop you. Ignore him.
SIMON
Okay. Well, one day my father
came in on one of those painting
sessions when I was nine -- and he
just started screaming at her --
at us -- at evil. And...
MELVIN
(very quickly)
... my father didn't leave his
room for 11 years -- he hit my
hand with a yardstick if I made a
mistake on the piano.
CAROL
Go ahead, Simon. Your father
walked in on you and was yelling
and... really, come on.
SIMON
I was trying to defend my mother
and make peace, in the lamest way.
I said, "she's not naked -- it's
art." And then he started hitting
me. And he beat me unconscious.
After that he talked to me less
and less -- he knew before I left
for college, my dad came into my
room. He held out his hand. It
was filled with money. A big wad
of sweaty money.
(gathers himself)
And he said to me, "I don't want
you to ever come back." I grabbed
him and I hugged him... He turns
and walked out.
Carol, whose life has been rugged but basic, feels as
strange as she does moved by Simon's trauma which is so
much more complicated than her meat and potatoes
troubles. She looks out her window -- then kisses her
fingers and touches them to Simon's cheek. A nice,
understated, gesture of friendship.
CAROL
Well, you know -- I still stay
what I said. You've got to get
past it all when it comes to your
parents. We all have these horror
stories to get over.
Melvin shifts INTO the FRAME.
MELVIN
That's not true. Some of us have
great stories... pretty stories
that take place at lakes with
boats and friends and noodle
salad. Just not anybody in this
car. But lots of people -- that's
their story -- good times and
noodle salad... and that's what
makes it hard. Not that you had
it bad but being that pissed that
so many had it good.
CAROL
No.
SIMON
Not it at all, really.
MELVIN
(a veteran's irony)
Not at all, huh?!... Let's go to
the hotel. And if you're lucky
tomorrow Dad will give you another
wad of sweaty money.That metaphor cracks me up: "Good times, noodle salad". I just love the idea of a mind wired so that a primary image of someone living a life of relative happiness involves noodle salad.
2 comments:
I just never warmed up to this movie, mostly because it felt like it was Jack doing Jack.
I absolutely enjoyed this movie. The OCD's by Jack's character were worthy of note. I also like his interaction with the dog, very cool.
I must have seen this movie a half-dozen times.
Con-Science? That can't be right. lol
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