Film 148 (Goal: 300) of 2024:

About Schmidt follows 66-year-old Warren Schmidt, as he enters the new phase of his life, upon retiring from employment. Unsure what to do with himself in his mundane life, he begins to resent his wife - something that doesn't last long though when she unexpectedly passes. Now not sure what to do with himself, Schmidt tries to navigate life on his own.

I'm a massive Jack Nicholson fan so this film is one of the remaining of this post-As Good as It Gets era that I had yet to see. I didn't know too much about this film going in though I had a feeling it was a study about a man trying to find his place in the world. To be honest, I was expecting more - I thought it would be the kind of film where Nicholson's character would do a complete 180 in lifestyle, adding things like booze, drugs, wild days and choices into the equations. Instead Schmidt meanders along from point a to point b, and while he's still lost in the world, barely any of the expected fun is there. Nicholson as always gives a phenomenal performance. He gets to show his comedy chops here (something that would be expanded upon in Adam Sandler's Anger Management), making the most of the moments of unexpected comedy.
But these moments are few and far between and instead, we spend too much time in uninteresting situations.

About Schmidt isn't a particularly bad film, it's not even a boring film. Maybe that's solely due to Nicholson's performance. About Schmidt just isn't the film I was expecting.