About Schmidt (2002)

Regisseur:

Alexander Payne

Drehbuchautoren (WGA):

Louis Begley (novel)
Alexander Payne (screenplay) ...

Premierendatum:

20. Dezember 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Komödie | Drama

Werbezeile:

Schmidt Happens

Plot:

Warren Schmidt is a man in his 60's. While trying to run his daughter's life, he realizes that he wasted his.

Plot Keywords:

Salespeople | Irreverent | Quirky | Insurance Agent | Death Of Wife

Filmpreise:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 19 wins & 28 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

Classic Cinema Art - A "Must See" Film!

Besetzung

Jack Nicholson	...	Warren R. Schmidt
Kathy Bates	...	Roberta Hertzel
Hope Davis	...	Jeannie Schmidt
Dermot Mulroney	...	Randall Hertzel
June Squibb	...	Helen Schmidt
Howard Hesseman	...	Larry Hertzel
Harry Groener	...	John Rusk
Connie Ray	...	Vicki Rusk
Len Cariou	...	Ray Nichols
Mark Venhuizen	...	Duncan Hertzel
Cheryl Hamada	...	Saundra
Phil Reeves	...	Minister in Denver
Matt Winston	...	Gary Nordin - Warren's Replacement
James M. Connor	...	Randall's Best Man (as James Micheal Connor)
Jill Anderson	...	Bridesmaid Reading St. Paul

Alternativ:

About Schmidt (Deutschland) [de]

MPAA:

Rated R for some language and brief nudity.

Länge:

125 Min

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe (DeLuxe)

Seitenverhältnis:

1.85 : 1

Tonverfahren:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Altersfreigabe:

Malaysia:U | Finland:K-3 | Portugal:M/12 (original rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Canada:14A | France:U | Germany:6 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIA | Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:M | Norway:7 | Peru:14 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:12 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #38731)

Drehorte:

Boulder, Colorado, USA

Firma:

New Line Cinema

Dies und das:

Scenes supposedly taking place at the University of Kansas were actually shot at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

Pannen:

Abfolgefehler: The position of the purple napkin when Schmidt is being fed the soup in bed.

Dialogzitate:

[repeated line]
Warren Schmidt: Dear Ndugu...

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweist auf/spielt an auf/erwähnt Sideways (2004)

Soundtrack:

Quetrième Gnossiennes

Classic Cinema Art - A "Must See" Film!

I spent a day watching "About Schmidt", with Jack Nicholson... and then the evening rambling through reviews, since my wife's perception of the ending differed somewhat from mine....

Conflict can often lead to enlightenment and discovery, but not so in the case of Warren Schmidt. In his case it leads to a life of complacency, denial, delusion, and passive-aggressive behaviors... and eventually, to a meaningless life of servitude devoid of passion or purpose.

Since my wife and I are around the same age as the character, and we ponder the same issues of our lives, the film had more significance to us. I found the work to be a cinema-graphic piece of art laced with symbolism and dark humor (at best). I likened it to previous movies like "Death of a Salesman", "The Apartment", "The Swimmer" (Burt Lancaster), or a short filmed called "The Bridge".

As a cautionary tale (or social comment) on the "American Way" of life, the messages it conveys are slightly exaggerated, but nevertheless there to be debated. We are talking about identity, achievement, interpersonal relationships, and the "average IQ".

In the end, I believe this film will become one that is studied in future classrooms, and it was brave of Nicholson to participate in such a character study and a work intended primarily for writers, actors, and directors. If laughter is "the sound we make when we are surprised (or shocked) by the truth", then the amount of humor you find in this film may be directly related to your own level of naivety or denial. After all, laughter can often be just another defense mechanism, right?

Some movies are straightforward, some are magical, some are mystical, and then, some are symbolic. This movie falls into the last category. The use of time, space, cognitive dissonance, and Irony abound in this work and challenge us to look, think, and feel.

Notes: we would have cut or altered the "Percodan scene" at the rehearsal (as overdone), also note- the cattle at the funeral who later appear on the freeway, inside jokes about Des Moines and Denver, Randall's "Certificate of Attendance", the look on Jeannie's face at the end of Warren's speech at the Wedding Reception, the use of "overstatement", details of wall decorations, and Warren's obvious attraction to the trite, idealistic, delusional, and superficial.

If you are a thinking, feeling, serious movie-lover, you should SEE this film once, and then STUDY it the 2nd time!