As Good As It Gets is a charming, funny and touching romantic comedy-drama which should be required viewing for any filmmaker who is considering a venture into the genre. It is intelligent, witty and believable, and it manages to tug on the viewer's heartstrings without resorting to clichés and sappiness. Director and co-screenwriter James L Brooks made a film which has no weak moments, and its appeal is enhanced by Academy Award-winning performances from Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt. They in turn are ably assisted by Greg Kinnear and a sterling supporting cast. Twilight Time has now released a nearly flawless Blu-ray version of this exceptional film.
As Good As It Gets
Studio: Twilight Time/Sony
Year: 1997
Rated: PG-13
Program Length: 138 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 1080p
Languages: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA
Subtitles: English, English SDH
The Program
As Good As It Gets is a charming, funny and touching romantic comedy-drama which should be required viewing for any filmmaker who is considering a venture into the genre. It is intelligent, witty and believable, and it manages to tug on the viewer's heartstrings without resorting to clichés and sappiness. Director and co-screenwriter James L Brooks made a film which has no weak moments, and its appeal is enhanced by Academy Award-winning performances from Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt. They in turn are ably assisted by Greg Kinnear and a sterling supporting cast. Twilight Time has now released a nearly flawless Blu-ray version of this exceptional film.
Melvin Udall (Nicholson) is a successful writer of romantic novels who lives in a spacious, upscale apartment in New York City. He also is an obsessive-compulsive misanthrope, a selfish bigot who dispenses casual insults with alarming regularity. He dislikes his gay artist neighbor, Simon Bishop (Kinnear), and he loathes Simon's dog, a Brussels Griffon named Verdell. The only person who is willing to stand up to Melvin is Simon's agent. Frank Sachs (Cuba Gooding Jr.). Melvin apparently eats only once a day, and for that meal he heads to a local restaurant when he insists upon dining at the same table and he tolerates only one waitress, Carol Connelly (Hunt). It is not as if the other waitresses are jockeying to serve Melvin - quite the contrary, in fact, as his volatile temper and blunt speech are well-known to both the restaurant's workers and customers. Carol does not particularly like Melvin, but she has learned how to put up with him. A single mother, Carol lives in Brooklyn with her mother (Shirley Knight) and severely asthmatic son.
Two events conspire to change the lives of the three principal characters. Simon is badly beaten during a burglary of his apartment and he is hospitalized. Frank unsuccessfully tries to find someone to care from Verdell, so he basically threatens Melvin with physical harm unless Melvin agrees to take in the pooch. To Melvin's surprise, he comes to enjoy have Verdell around and taking him for walks. The scene where Melvin coaxes Verdell to eat will melt your heart. Around the same time Melvin becomes agitated when he goes to the restaurant and discovers that Carol is not working that day. He is hungry and he will not allow anyone else to wait on him, so what is an obsessive-compulsive individual to do? He finds out where Carol lives and he travels to her apartment to demand an explanation for her failure to show up for work. She tells Melvin that her son had a serious asthma attack and she had to take him to the emergency room. Because of limitations with her health insurance, Carol is unable to get her son the specialized treatment that he needs.
How Melvin was able to develop a knack for writing romance novels is a mystery. One day, after a visit to his literary agent, the office receptionist praises his work and asks him how he manages to write female characters so well. "I think of a man," Melvin responds. "I take away reason and accountability." One of the many nice things about As Good As It Gets is that it does not follow a predictable arc. Just when you think that the direction of the plot has shifted, something surprising happens and leaves you guessing about what will follow. This is due in large part to Melvin's penchant for saying the wrong things - jaw dropping wrong things - at the worst possible time.
Nicholson and Hunt are marvelous in the lead roles, and Kinnear received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role. Others in the cast who shine include Gooding, Knight, Yeardley Smith, and Lupe Ontiveros. Watch closely for cameos by Harold Ramis, Lawrence Kasdan, Tood Solondz and Maya Rudolph. As Good As It Gets is a delightful film which also received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing (Richard Marx), Best Original Screenplay (Brooks and Mark Andrus), and Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer). This Blu-ray release is limited to 3,000 units and stands a good chance of selling out, so I recommend that those who are interested in obtaining it think about placing an order as soon as possible.
The Video
The 1.78:1 1080p transfer is outstanding in every respect. The images are highly detailed, with solid, accurate colors, outstanding shadow detail and excellent contrast. There are a few close-ups which are slightly on the soft side, but this appears to be as it was intended by the director. As our resident expert Robert Harris has noted , this Blu-ray presentation also looks superb when projected onto very large screens. The exterior scenes were filmed on location in New York City and Brooklyn
The Audio
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio likewise is superb. Every word of dialogue clear and understandable and the score by Hans Zimmer is given a wide and pleasing soundstage. Of particular note is the outstanding version of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" by Art Garfunkel over the closing credits.
The Supplements
As with all Twilight Time releases, the extras are limited.
The original theatrical trailer is included, and it is in excellent shape. The only other extra is the ability to listen to the isolated score track while the film plays without dialogue.
Viewers also can see the Twilight Time catalogue, which shows that July's releases will be Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and Cover Girl.
The Packaging
The single disc comes in a standard Blu-ray keep case. Included is an eight-page full-color booklet with an informative and insightful essay by Julie Kirgo.
The Final Analysis
I have not seen the 1998 DVD of As Good As It Gets, but it is difficult to believe that it comes close to this presentation in picture quality and sound. It would have been nice if Twilight Time could have included the commentary track from the DVD, but most fans of the film will nonetheless want to give serious consideration to purchasing this Blu-ray version.
Equipment used for this review:
Panasonic DMP-BD50 Blu-ray player
Panasonic Viera TC-P46G15 Plasma display, calibrated to THX specification by Gregg Loewen
Yamaha HTR-5890 THX Surround Receiver
BIC Acoustech speakers
Interconnects: Monster Cable
Release Date: June 12, 2012
