As Good As It Gets (PG-13)
Funny, but not a light comedy for youngsters.
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Seen the movie?
Movie details
- Studio: Tristar Pictures
- Directed By: James Brooks
- Cast: Cuba Gooding Jr., Helen Hunt, Jack Nicholson
- Running Time: 139 minutes
- Release Date: 12/25/1997
- Video/DVD Release Date: 05/19/1998
- Genre: Comedy
- MPAA Rating: PG-13
- MPAA Explanation: appeal for strong language, thematic elements, nudity and a beating
Parents need to know
Parents need to know that this film deals candidly with homophobia, violence, mortality, and mental disorders. It includes a very violent and disturbing attack on one of the main characters, which leaves the man hospitalized and disfigured. A character verbally abuses others as a means of coping with his own extreme self-centered and (clinically) obsessive-compulsive behavior.
Families can talk about issues such as tolerance, mental illness, and personal strength. What is at the bottom of Melvin's homophobic remarks toward Simon? What helps him overcome these feelings? The film illustrates the struggles of a single mother attempting to care for her chronically ill child and live a life of her own. Parents may want to use this opportunity to discuss a topic seldom considered by adolescents: the lives of parents beyond the needs of their children.
Families can talk about issues such as tolerance, mental illness, and personal strength. What is at the bottom of Melvin's homophobic remarks toward Simon? What helps him overcome these feelings? The film illustrates the struggles of a single mother attempting to care for her chronically ill child and live a life of her own. Parents may want to use this opportunity to discuss a topic seldom considered by adolescents: the lives of parents beyond the needs of their children.
Message
Social Behavior:
One main character exhibits hostile and obsessive compulsive behavior toward others. The same character also deals with his homophobia and a fear of intimacy. Other main characters include a gay man struggling to rebuild his life after an attack and a working-class single mom trying to get by while caring for herself and her chronically ill child.
Consumerism:
Includes Nick-at-Nite advertising.
Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:
Various moments of social drinking. A character takes anti-depressants.
Violence
One very graphic homophobic assault and the horrific wounds left as a result.
Sex
Slurs about gay sex, female sexual frustration, male prostitution. Nudity is portrayed in artwork.
Language
One character uses a large amount of profane, sexually and culturally insensitive language. However, it is used to illustrate both the intolerance of the main character and the pain and frustration of the other two leads.
Common Sense says
What's the story?
Reviewed by Kelly Kessler
In AS GOOD AS IT GETS, Jack Nicholson plays Melvin, a hostile, reclusive, obsessive-compulsive romance writer who lives his life eating with plastic flatware, avoiding stepping on cracks, and steering clear of dirt, human contact, or disorder. The film follows the intersecting lives of Melvin, his gay artist neighbor Simon (Greg Kinnear), and a local waitress, Carol (Helen Hunt), the mother of a chronically ill child. After a brutal attack on Simon, Melvin is forced to disrupt his orderly life to care for his neighbor's dog (and in the process Simon). Ultimately, the film examines the trio's initial disdain for each other and the ways in which their circumstances can assist them in achieving physical and mental well-being.
Is it any good?
Helen Hunt (Mad About You) and Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) garnered well-deserved Academy Awards and a nomination for Kinnear (Talk Soup)for their true-to-life performances. Often pitched as a romantic comedy, As Good as it Gets eschews the saccharine aftertaste of many such films. Instead, it provides sometimes-painful moments of self-discovery and the possibility for a pleasant (though less than "normal") tomorrow for its trio characters.
Parents might want to consider their child's level of maturity before allowing them to watch this movie.
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