As Good as It Gets (1997)

Despite the amount of Oscar nominations, this film received, it really isn't anything spectacular or extraordinary and Jack Nicholson (whom I like as an actor) is grossly miscast.
Nicholson is Melvin Udall, a curmudgeon with OCD but you feel no sympathy for him as he callowsly tosses his neighbor's dog down the trash shoot. He brings his own plastic silverware to his favorite diner  and he's basically an all-around jerk.
It isn't until his neighbor's agent, Frank (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) rips him a new one and forces him to care for the dog he abused that Melvin starts to change, slowly and he still does stupid crap throughout the film. And then the dog starts copying Melvin's traits of not walking on the cracks on the sidewalks that Melvin truly does start to warm up. He is even nicer to his favorite waitress, Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) whose life is troubled by her chronically ill son. But when Carol misses work, Melvin does use his greater financial means to hire a private doctor just so Carol can come back to work.
He also agrees, albeit incredibly reluctantly, to take his injured neighbor (Greg Kinnear) to visit his parents because Simon (the neighbor) needs money. He nearly blackmails Carol into coming with them and she agrees. Though Simon is gay, he and Carol hit it off, having an odd sort of brother-sister relationship. Melvin finally gives Carol a compliment, saying that because of her, he takes his medication, he wants to be a better man because of her and then he ruins it by saying that maybe if she had sex with Simon, things would start looking up for him. She walks out, as he deserves.
Only, then, she becomes Simon's muse. Simon has been pretty depressed since his apartment was robbed and he was attacked, not wanting to sketch anymore, but Carol inspires him. And she poses for him, which creates an awkward morning as they act like they had sex in front of Melvin.
Simon won't need his parent's financial assistance as he has some artwork again, but he also has no place to live. So Melvin lets him move in and Simon urges him to mend the fences with Carol which is what he does. So it ends happily, which I like, and yet, this film didn't do much for me.
Nicholson and Hunt do not have great chemistry, something this film desperately needed and Nicholson should have been closer to Hunt's age. And someone with OCD should be portrayed differently, with sympathy instead of coldness. The TV show Monk is a far better example. Still, the three leads are very good though I would have liked to have more scenes with Hunt and Kinnear as those two are truly enchanting. Grade: B