Cady's Take:

Early on Warren becomes a long-distance foster parent to a 6-year-old Tanzanian boy named Ndugu Umbo, whom he sponsors for $22 a month. In addition to mailing his checks, Schmidt writes long confessionals about his personal life, his worries and concerns, his grievances and bereavements. Warren sends letters to the child as though this was a form of therapy, and indeed, it is.

This is an adult movie meant for mature audiences who can appreciate the mental, physical, and age appropriate stages these characters are at in life. It is a well-written story with pearls of wisdom and nuggets of truisms spread all the way through it. The film should be seen as an Everyman story, perhaps a warning to those of us who are still short of senior citizen hood to seize the day.

Although it is a deep and wonderful story born of genuine creativity and masterful skill, it is the performances, especially that of Jack Nicholson, that put About Schmidt on a higher plane of cinematic greatness. The supporting role that stands out the most is Randall's New Age mom Roberta, as played by Oscar winner Kathy Bates. She bares it all--literally and figuratively--and gives the spunky Roberta a wonderful, very human twist.

The joy in About Schmidt is how gracefully, and with such individuality, Warren falls apart, and as we all know… "Schmidt happens."

I just have one question – how does someone as charismatic as Jack Nicholson play someone with absolutely no charisma, like Warren Schmidt? I am not sure but it is something to watch it and realize that this is the same guy who played the Joker in “Batman”, Melvin in “As Good As It Gets”, and the delicious devil in “The Witches of Eastwick.” Here though, Nicholson plays a man with no real distinction – his job, his home, his wife, and his retirement are without true merit. They were simply motions of life.
Warren Schmidt sees his retirement years stretching before him with a wife he barely knows, a daughter who hardly cares, and a new RV that he does not know what to do with. When his wife (June Squibb) dies and his daughter (Hope Davis) plans to marry the ridiculous Randall (Dermot Mulroney) Schmidt sees his opportunity to make his mark by stopping the nuptials. Randall’s mother Roberta (Bates) gets in on the act as the overbearing future in-law who has all the zest for life and quirkiness that Schmidt is lacking. She provides a great counter-point for Nicholson and they are really funny together. Usually the “payout” scenes (you know – the ones you saw in the commercial but in bits and pieces) are a disappointment but Bates and Nicholson in the hot tub is definitely hilarious.
This is a good movie, not a comedy, more of a thinker than it was advertised, but I would definitely recommend it. The sub-plot involving Schmidt’s sponsorship of a child in Africa, and his letter-writing campaign seems at first incongruous but eventually pulls the story together in a way that I did not expect and that I ultimately found to be very genuine.