IMDb > As Good as It Gets (1997)
As Good as It Gets
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As Good as It Gets (1997) More at IMDbPro »

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As Good as It Gets (1997) -- A single mother/waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship
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As Good as It Gets (1997) -- MyMovieScripts.com - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
7.8/10   86,129 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 14% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
James L. Brooks
Writers (WGA):
Mark Andrus (story)
Mark Andrus (screenplay) ...
more
Contact:
View company contact information for As Good as It Gets on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
25 December 1997 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy | Drama | Romance more
Tagline:
Brace yourself for Melvin. more
Plot:
A single mother/waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Won 2 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 25 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(74 articles)
Helen Hunt may take on Maura Tierney's Parenthood role
 (From AOL - TVSquad. 15 September 2009, 7:33 AM, PDT)

Helen Hunt to Replace Maura Tierney on Parenthood?
 (From TVGuide - Breaking News. 15 September 2009, 6:09 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Unusual movie more (402 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Old Friends (USA) (working title)
Besser geht's nicht (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Mejor... imposible (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Melhor É Impossível (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Pour le pire et pour le meilleur (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Benden bu kadar (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Bolje ne bo nikoli (Slovenia) [sl]
Bolje ne moze (Croatia) [hr]
Det bli'r ikke bedre (Denmark) [da]
Dobro da bolje ne moze biti (Serbia) [sr]
Elämä on ihanaa (Finland) [fi]
Kalytera de ginetai (Greece) [el]
Lepiej byc nie moze (Poland) [pl]
Lepsí uz to nebude (Czech Republic) [cs]
Lesz ez még így se! (Hungary) [hu]
Livet från den ljusa sidan (Sweden) [sv]
Livets lyse side (Norway) [no]
Millor, impossible (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Qualcosa è cambiato (Italy) [it]
more
MPAA:
Rated PG-13 on appeal for strong language, thematic elements, nudity and a beating.
Runtime:
139 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Udall's response to the question about how he writes women is an actual response given by author John Updike when asked the same question. more
Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Carol takes the train to see Melvyn, after getting out of bed and for the sole purpose of telling him she won't sleep with him, the LED sign on the subway car she is riding says, "Subway Shuttle: Out of Service." more
Quotes:
Simon Bishop: Lucky for you... you're here for rock-bottom. You absolute horror of a human being. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in The 55th Annual Golden Globe Awards (1998) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
Y.M.C.A. more

FAQ

What is that song Vincent plays in Simon's studio?
What is the song Melvin plays in his car marked 'To Use As Icebreaker'?
more
40 out of 64 people found the following comment useful.
Unusual movie, 17 February 2000
7/10
Author: krumski from Cincinnati, Ohio

This movie is bizarre because, while judged overall its story is shmaltzy and unbelievable, nevertheless each individual scene plays absolutely convincingly and feels very real. It's weird. I don't know if it's just the greatness of the actors overcoming an under-thought out script, or whether it's just the script concentrated solely on crafting great scenes one after the other, but not so much in coming up with a convincing through-line. Whatever. All I know is that this is one of the most entertaining pictures I've ever seen, extremely funny and quite emotionally affecting in places. Somehow, it just doesn't matter - I like it anyway.

The performances are uniformly excellent. Nicholson shows real range here - sure, he gets to be the sarcastic curmudgeon we've all come to expect, but his character also has moments of fear, repression and vulnerability which he brings off equally well. My problem with this character (and the "problem" only exists as I think about him afterward, not while I'm actually watching the movie) is in his conception: he seems to be whatever the writers want him to be at that moment, with no particular consistency from scene to scene so when he supposedly "changes" at the end, we're left to think, "Change? This guy's been changing through the entire movie!" And also, the fact that his character is a romance novelist is never really explained or examined in any way.

And yet, Nicholson's performance makes it not matter quite so much.

Helen Hunt is a revelation in this movie - she nails every scene she's in, whether she's forced to be witty, embarrassed, angry, defiant, emotionally overwhelmed, whatever. She keeps Jack on his toes, and they work off each other brilliantly. Also, I never thought I'd find myself saying this, but Greg Kinnear was great as Simon, the gay neighbor. (It was also nice to see director Harold Ramis - the third Ghostbuster, after all - in front of the camera again, if only briefly, in a small part as a doctor.)

What more can I say? Good comedy, good love story, great acting. None of it, in the end, is very convincing, but if you just focus on the individual moments and not on the grand design - a task made easy by the wonderful writing and playing - it's very easy to like As Good As It Gets.

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Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for As Good as It Gets (1997)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
how many times did u watch this movie? j-rule
Much better than Titanic metlaneth
$1.13 gas Simon-120
Could There Have Been LESS Chemistry? arnomation
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder bentoncg
Hey, Yeardly's character is named Simpson. mp3cereal
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