About Schmidt

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  • Opened December 13, 2002 
  • 2 hr 4 min
  • R | Some Language and Brief Nudity

  • Parents: Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+. More on child suitability

  • Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) has arrived at several of life's crossroads all at the same time. To begin with, he is retiring from a lifetime of service as an actuary for Woodmen of the World Insurance Company, and he feels utterly adrift. Furthermore, his only daughter Jeannie (Hope Davis) is about to marry a boob. And his wife Helen (June Squibb) dies suddenly after 42 years of marriage. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, Kathy Bates
  • Director: Alexander Payne
  • Genres: Black Comedy, Comedy Drama, Comedy of Manners, Tragi-comedy

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Critic Reviews

100
New York Daily News
| Jami Bernard

Payne achieves an impressive control over the look and tone, so that, melancholy as the movie is, it comes off as both comedy and comment on the human condition. Read full review

100
Philadelphia Inquirer
| Steven Rea

A quiet, heart-rending masterpiece, one with an actor's turn that people will remember, and rediscover, eons into the future. Read full review

100
Miami Herald
| Rene Rodriguez

Ever the satirist, Payne mines humor from his characters, be it Randall's cockeyed pyramid-scheme ideas or the banality of a ridiculous wedding toast. Read full review

100
Chicago Tribune
| Michael Wilmington

This is a superb film and one of Nicholson's great performances, tamped down but magnetic. Read full review

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