As Good As It Gets (1997)

Running Time: 100 minutes (approx)

Production Year: 1997

Rating: 15 Certificate

Production Country: USA

Filmed in Colour

This is a heartwarming drama about a disgruntled misanthrope who falls for a feisty waitress.

Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) is the most dysfunctional of men, an acid-tongued romance novelist who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Never one to avoid confrontations, he takes pride in his ability to affront, repulse, offend and wound. His targets are random; his aim reckless. Leave an elevator in which he stands; cross a street on which he walks. He is to be avoided at all costs, but some victims just cannot escape.

As part of Melvin's unwavering daily schedule, he consumes an artery-hardening breakfast of bacon, sausages and eggs at a local cafe. The only waitress willing to stand up to his sarcastic tirades is Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt), a single mother struggling to raise her chronically asthmatic son.

Simon Nye (Greg Kinnear) has the distinct misfortune of living across the hall from Melvin in their West Village apartment building in downtown Manhattan. A talented contemporary artist, Simon is a current darling of the New York art world, reason enough to draw Melvin's verbal fire. His gay lifestyle is thus only further grist for the novelist's malicious mill.

These three New Yorkers - none of whom appears to have a chance in hell at finding real happiness - discover their fates intertwined because of the fourth complicated character in the piece, an ugly, tiny dog named Verdell (Jill).

Jack Nicholson deservedly won an Oscar for his performance in this superb movie and Helen Hunt won Best Actress in Leading Role

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Cast

	Jack Nicholson		Melvin Udall
	Helen Hunt		Carol Connelly
	Greg Kinnear		Simon Bishop
	Cuba Gooding Jr.		Frank Sachs
	Shirley Knight		Beverly Connelly
	Skeet Ulrich		Vincent Lopiano
	Yeardley Smith		Jackie Simpson
	Lupe Ontiveros		Nora Manning
	Bibi Osterwald		Neighbor Woman
	Ross Bleckner		Carl
	Bernadette Balagtas		Caterer
	Jaffe Cohen		Partygoer
	Laurie Kilpatrick		Partygoer
	Alice Vaughn		Partygoer
	Brian Doyle-Murray		Handyman