As Good as It Gets (1997)

Regisseur:

James L. Brooks

Drehbuchautoren (WGA):

Mark Andrus (story)
Mark Andrus (screenplay) ...

Premierendatum:

25. Dezember 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Komödie | Drama | Romanze

Werbezeile:

Brace yourself for Melvin.

Plot:

A single mother/waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship

Plot Keywords:

Love Hate | Posing | Opposites Attract | Male Nudity | Older Man Younger Woman

Filmpreise:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 25 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

How to create something out of nothing? Ask Mark Andrus and Jim L. Brooks

Besetzung

Jack Nicholson	...	Melvin Udall
Helen Hunt	...	Carol Connelly
Greg Kinnear	...	Simon Bishop
Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Frank Sachs
Skeet Ulrich	...	Vincent Lopiano
Shirley Knight	...	Beverly Connelly
Yeardley Smith	...	Jackie Simpson
Lupe Ontiveros	...	Nora Manning
Jill the Dog	...	Verdell (as Jill)
Timer the Dog	...	Supporting Dog (as Timer)
Billy the Dog	...	Supporting Dog (as Billy)
Bibi Osterwald	...	Neighbor Woman
Ross Bleckner	...	Carl
Bernadette Balagtas	...	Caterer
Jaffe Cohen	...	Partygoer

Alternativ:

Old Friends (USA) (working title)
Besser geht's nicht (Österreich) (Deutschland) [de]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 on appeal for strong language, thematic elements, nudity and a beating.

Länge:

139 Min

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe (Technicolor)

Seitenverhältnis:

1.85 : 1

Tonverfahren:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Altersfreigabe:

Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Austria:6 | Belgium:KT | Brazil:Livre | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG | Chile:TE | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:6 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIA | Iceland:L | Italy:T | Mexico:B | Netherlands:12 | Norway:11 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #35079) (re-rating on appeal) | USA:R (original rating)

Drehorte:

1 Windsor Place, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Firma:

TriStar Pictures

Dies und das:

Paul Gross auditioned for the part of Simon Bishop, but the director told him he was too "fine-featured" for the part.

Pannen:

Abfolgefehler: The amount of liquid in Carol's cocktail changes from the time she's at the bar to when it's placed on the table. At the bar it's about 3/4 empty, at the table, it's almost full again.

Dialogzitate:

Carol Connelly: To hell with sex! It was better than sex! We held each other! What I needed, he gave me great.

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Ausschnittsweise enthalten in "Saturday Night Live: Greg Kinnear/All Saints (#23.18)" (1998)

Soundtrack:

DAYS LIKE THIS

How to create something out of nothing? Ask Mark Andrus and Jim L. Brooks

Really, how to make something original, fresh and odd out of absolutely nothing except a few characters? Using characters, only characters and nothing except characters. That's the simple formula Brooks uses in all of his work, but, for me, he has never created so much charm, warmth and sensibility as he did in `As good as it gets'.

Characters write the screenplay in this movie, and everything that happens - happens because of what they are. They are nothing special – they are ordinary people we meet in the street every day and that have the same problems a lot of other people have. This movie presents the example of how much you can pull out of that. And if that is written as well as it is in this case, not even a happy ending can bother you. Because, in real life, shown here, what is the end?

Everything is good and warm in this movie, everything is fresh and vivacious, understandable and well performed. Jack Nicholson brings one of the best performances of his career, that terrific Helen Hunt finally got a chance to show how skilfully an actor can connect naturalism with the laws of the camera performance, and Greg Kinnear shows the most convincing emotions coming from a gay character I've ever seen.

The relationships between the characters are created in the way that you can't predict anything that's going to happen, eventhough you know in advance what could come out of their mouth and what kind of attitude they'll have in a certain situation.

You can simply feel the progressive collaboration that occurred between Brooks and the actors and the mutual understanding they developed, and it's not often that you see that kind of artistic superstructure shining on the screen so much as it does here.

I find `As good as it gets' complexed, vital, intelligent, emotionally deep and studied, fresh, original, amusing, cheerful, funny, and one of the best films of 1997.