As Good As It Gets (1997)

As Good As It Gets (1997) Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt star in this nineties comedy film about human relationships. Nicholson plays Melvin Udall, a successful author, who lives in a tenement building with neighbours he enjoys terrorizing with his cantankerous nature. He suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and attempts to spend his days in a calm, comfortable routine without any anomalies. However, his favourite waitress (Helen Hunt) at the only restaurant he can stand, disrupts his timetable when her child gets sick and is forced away from her duties. Another irregularity presents itself to Melvin, in the form of a gay artist who lives downstairs, played by Greg Kinnear, who is badly beaten during a robbery and reluctantly leans on Melvin for help when he has no one to turn to. As the three lives intertwine, and a hazardous friendship is formed, life and all its little ironies are brought to life. A feel-good film, with outstanding performances. Nicholson and Hunt were rewarded for their roles by the academy, but my award would go to Kinnear. His sincere and heartfelt portrayal of this broken man becomes the more engaging factor as the story develops, and he interacts with these two Hollywood heavyweights with a distinct talent. True to nineties form, the film has a nostalgic aesthetic about it, a film to revisit if you remember the decade, but the themes and ideas are still relevant. Maybe even more so in these troubled times of social interaction, where human contact has been usurped by technology.