As Good As It Gets (1997)

A novelist (Jack Nicholson) with a severe obsessive compulsive disorder as well as mean spirited mouth is forced to babysit his neighbor's (Greg Kinnear) dog after the neighbor is brutally attacked and beaten. Add to that his financial assistance to a waitress (Helen Hunt) with a sick child and he slowly attempts to become a better person. Directed by James L. Brooks. Brooks was a very successful director in the 1980s and 1990s with movies like TERMS OF ENDEARMENT and BROADCAST NEWS and this film was not only a box office hit but Oscars went to Nicholson and Hunt for their performances. Nicholson is the reason to see the film. It's one of his very best performances and although I have reservations about making a racist and homophobic misanthrope into a cuddly curmudgeon, his performance is flawless. In fact, the acting is all around excellent (though I find Hunt's best actress Oscar win a head scratcher). I just wish that the writing didn't seem so calculated. It hits all its marks perhaps too precisely. There's no freshness or vitality to the screenplay. With Cuba Gooding Jr., Shirley Knight, Skeet Ulrich, Bibi Osterwald, Harold Ramis, Maya Rudolph and Jill, a Griffon Bruxelois that manages to steal scenes away from Nicholson, no easy feat.