As Good as It Gets
Short description
Melvin Udall is a successful romance novelist living in New York, whose obsessive habits and open contempt for nearly everyone leave him isolated. His routine centres on a restaurant where he eats daily and on Carol Connelly, the waitress who tolerates him. When his neighbour, the artist Simon Bishop, is attacked in a robbery and hospitalised, Melvin is left looking after Simon's dog. The arrangement, along with Carol's difficulties at home, gradually forces Melvin out of his self-imposed detachment and into the lives of the two people he has treated worst. Jack Nicholson plays Melvin, with Helen Hunt as Carol, Greg Kinnear as Simon and Cuba Gooding Jr. as Simon's friend Frank Sachs.
James L. Brooks directed and co-wrote the film with Mark Andrus, and produced it as well. It was his third feature as director, following Terms of Endearment and Broadcast News, and it preceded Spanglish, How Do You Know and Ella McCay. Made for about 50 million dollars, it took roughly 314 million dollars worldwide.
Audience responses have been consistently favourable: on IMDb it holds 7.7 from around 337,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.4 from about 4,250 votes. A critics' rating of 7.7 from 84 reviews places it on a par with the IMDb figure. The film runs 139 minutes.
What's left behind the scenes
- The role of Melvin Udall was initially offered to John Travolta, and the role of Carol Connelly to Holly Hunter.
- To film the scene where the dog mimics Nicholson's character stepping over cracks in the sidewalk, various obstacles were placed for the dog to lift its paws, and these were later removed in post-production using computer graphics.
- The dog named Verdell was played by six Brussels Griffon dogs.
- Shirley Knight, who played Beverly Connelly in the film, offered her role to the famous actress and animal rights activist Betty White, but she declined upon learning that the dog would be mistreated during filming.
- At the 70th Academy Awards ceremony in 1998, after the winner for “Best Actor” was announced, Jack Nicholson, as he walked onto the stage, mimicked stepping between paving stones, imitating his character. The actor dedicated his third Oscar to his co-star in “A Few Good Men,” J.T. Walsh, who had died on February 27, 1998.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
