Alexander Payne	...	(Director)
Louis Begley, Alexander Payne	...	(Writer)
Jack Nicholson	...	Warren R. Schmidt
Kathy Bates	...	Roberta Hertzel
Hope Davis	...	Jeannie Schmidt
Dermot Mulroney	...	Randall Hertzel
June Squibb	...	Helen Schmidt
Howard Hesseman	...	Larry Hertzel
Harry Groener	...	John Rusk
Connie Ray	...	Vicki Rusk
Len Cariou	...	Ray Nichols
Mark Venhuizen	...	Duncan Hertzel
Cheryl Hamada	...	Saundra
Phil Reeves	...	Minister in Denver
Matt Winston	...	Gary Nordin - Warren's Replacement
James M. Connor	...	Randall's Best Man (as James Micheal Connor)
Jill Anderson	...	Bridesmaid Reading St. Paul

Comments: Schmidt Happens

Summary: While confirming Jack Nicholson's status as an American national treasure, "About Schmidt" is sure to provoke polarized reactions. Stoked by the success of "Election", director Alexander Payne and cowriter Jim Taylor have altered Louis Begley's novel to suit their comedic agenda, turning Nicholson's titular character into a 66-year-old, newly retired Omaha insurance actuary, weary from decades of drudgery and passionless marriage. When his wife suddenly dies, he attempts to reclaim his life in a king-sized Winnebago, desperate to convince his daughter (Hope Davis) not to marry the Denver dimwit (Dermot Mulroney) whose mother (Kathy Bates) has her own baggage of peculiar peccadilloes. Nicholson perfectly (and often hilariously) nails the seething anger beneath his character's façade of resignation, but Payne and Taylor convey cold-hearted contempt for these Midwestern malcontents. Think of this as "Ikiru" with bleaker humanity, until Schmidt finds meaning--and some small reward--in a quiet gesture of goodwill. Love it or hate it, "About Schmidt" is a movie you won't soon forget. "--Jeff Shannon"