About Schmidt

Warren Schmidt is nobody; a nobody reaching retirement and realising he hasn’t done a single worthwhile thing in his entire life. Becoming aware of the fact he has sleepwalked through most of his days, he fosters an African child and begins a series of letters detailing his feelings regarding his life and family to a child named Ndugu. Fresh out of friends, his letters continue and Schmidt’s formerly untapped well of opinions and petty emotions spill out in a more than comical fashion to his six year old confessor.

Schmidt’s daughter Jean is marrying Randall, a seemingly dimwitted waterbed salesman who ‘isn’t up to snuff’ in Schmidt’s opinion. After his retirement and with little else to do, Schmidt takes off in his 35-foot Winnebago to stop the wedding. What follows is a bittersweet exploration of his self as he travels across country, coming to terms with his wasted life and ambitions. Through a series of misadventures, we learn more of the ‘sad, sad man’ that is Warren Schmidt and the unpleasant discoveries he makes regarding his own persona.

"What kind of difference have I made? What in the world is better because of me?"

Jack Nicholson is in classic form, bringing a world-weary energy to the role of the hapless Schmidt. Not your traditional road movie by any means, it is however a nice metaphor for the journey of self-discovery Schmidt embarks upon, stopping here and there for unfurling revelations about himself. Comical in parts, reflective and maudlin in others, there are also some genuinely cringing moments as Schmidt’s rapidly waning shreds of dignity are further diminished, adding up to a single, excellent, genre-defying movie.

Each character in the story is guilty of something, and it’s left to us to judge each accordingly from both Schmidt’s point of view and our own, just as in life. This judgement of others, and the importance of looking within ourselves is a running theme throughout the film and one that isn’t beaten into us, but assails us constantly nonetheless.

The casting is perfect in each role, with Kathy Bates excellent (as ever) in the role of Randall’s mother, Roberta. Typically fierce, gentle yet passive aggressive, she works perfectly against Nicholson’s Schmidt. Dermot Mulroney plays Randall, the ambitious, yet poorly educated runner-up in life with a good heart, if not the social skills to use it. Sweetly comical and honest, Randall is marrying Jeannie, played perfectly by Hope Davis, who ably portrays the timely frustration of a daughter who barely knows her aging father. The chemistry between all actors and their roles and to each other is worked well, showing the bleakness of Schmidt’s ordinary life colliding with those lives around him and the aftershocks of such. In a comfortable slot alongside films like American Beauty, with its genre mixing and reflections on life itself, About Schmidt is a timely story for all of us. After all, one day we too may be forced to reflect upon our lives, if we haven’t done so already.

When in the cinema, this was released in the aspect of 1.85:1 and this has been preserved with this transfer, with the addition of 16:9 enhancement. Dealing with such a morose topic for the most part, the picture starts out rather bleakly with harsh sodium lighting or fluorescents throwing a green/white pallor over everything. This is particularly evident in the Schmidt house and his workplace, the apparently famous Woodmen Tower in Omaha.

Flesh, too, suffers the same deliberate fate, making some folks appear more sickly or pallid than others. Nicholson himself looks rather grey for many instances, but again, this is without doubt deliberate. Being so recent a film, there are no real artefacts to report and the blacks are true to life. Some shadows and darks have contrast issues, making them a little too dark in parts and hiding details. This is always in the indoor shots, and not apparent in the limited outdoor night shots. These are really the only problems I could see with the transfer. The picture quality is nice and sharp and the colours (what colours there are) are all at correct balances.

A choice of three weapons here, in Dolby Digital 2.0, DD 5.1 and DTS, so there’s something for every system. There are a lot of important sonic things here and all have been executed very nicely. Jack Nicholson’s voiceovers when scribing his letters to Ndugu are beautifully read and well spoken with extremely clear audio. Sister Nadine’s voice too, which is heavily accented and croaky, is still easily understood and well delivered. The rest of the dialogue is also very clean with no noise or anything behind it. There is a little intentional noise during a phone call in which we hear Jean from the other end. Her voice is scratchy and distant, but that just adds to Schmidt’s isolation and must therefore be deliberate.

Music, which is so commonplace within this film and integral to setting the mood, has been transferred impeccably. In a moment it can go from quizzical or polite to humourous or angry to directed and back again. This is a marvellous score by Rolfe Kent that builds quietly behind the action, gently directing our emotions in the correct direction. Very nice.

As to everything else, the sound effects are all groovy and well-synched while balances and levels are all fine. A dynamite sound package.

Not plenty, unfortunately. A lamearse DTS trailer before the film plus a regular theatrical trailer at 1.85:1 and enhanced. There are 29 minutes of deleted scenes that come with a text description from director Alex Payne. Some interesting insight into the editing process, but this would have been nicer with an audio commentary rather than the text.

Last but not least are five short films. Don’t get too excited though, as these are entitled Woodmen Sequences and feature the building from the film’s beginning. Given to his editing crew as a pet project, Payne set them a task of making their own short film about the Woodmen Building using the countless hours of film shot on location. All are 1.85:1 without enhancement and are some intriguing takes on the idea, but by the end of the 13 and a half minutes you will have seen enough of this building to last you your whole life. Plus, the word ‘Woodmen’ appears funny when you keep looking at it for a while (number four was my choice of highlight, by the way). The good thing about these last two extras is they have a ‘play all’ function, so we can skip the menu for a bit.

Lastly, a brief addition to mention the animated menus. These feature Schmidt’s office wall clock and take five or more seconds to load each screen, so take that into account.

As a complete package, About Schmidt works on so many levels that some part of it is bound to touch everyone, regardless of their station in life. The transfer quality is top of the line and impressive overall, though the extras left me feeling a little flat. Some biographies would have been a nice simple addition here, particularly with so many members of the cast having that ‘what else did we see him/her in?’ quality. Oh well.

A modern classic that defies genre, About Schmidt is an intense experience delivering an almost full range of human emotions throughout its two hours and is one film that is sure to affect all who see it, one way or another.