I found myself in the mood to watch 1997's As Good as It Gets yesterday. The scene where Helen Hunt comes to Jack Nicholson's door with a wet t-shirt came to mind and I realised that, for a movie I'd only seen once, all the way back in 1997, in the theatre, there are a lot of moments from it that stick with me and come to mind. Hunt's character, suspicious of the proper spelling of conscience because it looks like "con science"; Harold Ramis showing up as a doctor; Nicholson getting out of a long shower and steam clouds rolling into the hallway about him. I often think of that when I take a long shower. I think, "See? I'm not so strange." I forgot Nicholson plays someone with OCD in the movie.
Obviously it couldn't be made to-day. Nicholson flinging homophobic and racist insults, even if it is clearly portrayed as a cracked device for avoiding intimacy, would never fly. As an author, his career would be over after talking to Julie Benz the way he does. Him being twenty-four years older than Helen Hunt would probably also be a problem but I'd also argue the fact that neither he nor Hunt looked like Greek gods would also prevent them from getting leading roles in a romantic film now.
I guess Hunt's face kind of looks like a Roman statue. She's one of those cinematic "average" looking people who would be exposed as gorgeous if you ever saw her in real life next to truly ordinary schlubs, even the ones that spend 24/7 at gyms and salons. As much as I do like Nicholson in the movie, I find her performance more striking. She's a person with a strong faith in her own reason, a faith easily bolstered by how utterly absurd Nicholson is, but she find herself in a situation in which she gradually has to accept she's attracted to this nightmare and she can't explain it. I really like her lines in the phone conversation near the climax:
I'd be lying if I didn't say that I enjoyed your company... but the truth is you do bother me enormously and I know -- think -- that it's best for me to not have contact with you because you're just not ready and you're a pretty old guy to not be ready... and I'm too old to ignore that. But there were extraordinary kindnesses that did take place. So thanks for the trips...
It's interesting we never learn anything about either character's romantic history except Carol has a kid. But we never learn one thing about the boy's father (there's another thing you couldn't put in a movie nowadays). Melvin's supposed to be a massively successful author of romance novels so, despite his glib reply to Darla, he must have some kind of insight. I also find it interesting none of the other main characters ever comment on the quality of his writing. What happens if she reads one of his books and hates it? I'm suddenly reminded that Amanda Palmer hated Neil Gaiman's American Gods, and look what happened to them.
On the one hand, a lover shouldn't have to love their partner's work, but on the other hand, if you don't love something a person lovingly crafted, devoted their life to over a course of years, can you truly say you love that person on more than a physical level? Maybe at the end of the day, Carol just realises she can tolerate Melvin as her financial saviour, the man who got a doctor for her little boy. But maybe that's as good as it gets.
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