ttor

I laughed through much of this movie. But I didn't cry, even though I recognized the great truth the movie portrays about the shallowness of our lives. Almost every utterance of every character was empty of genuine feeling. Poor Schmidt. I shared with him incredible boredom with the people in his life. I shared with him his feelings of despair with the perfunctory statements made at weddings and retirement parties and dinner tables. People talk just to receive a moment of attention. What they say is not worth listening to. Almost everyone Schmidt meets is a "Stepford wife." But there is one exception. The one genuine soul in Schmidt's life is a little boy who lives halfway around the world, someone that Schmidt has never met. When that little boy wishes Schmidt well, Schmidt recognizes his sincerity and is deeply touched.

This was one of the best "made-for-tv" movies I have seen. The plot is coherent but unpredictable (which alone makes the movie remarkable). Ann-Margret is terrific and great fun to watch. I recommend the movie.

I watched this movie cause it starred De Niro and Streep - and that is actor heaven as far as just about anyone is concerned. But still, I was very uncomfortable during portions of the movie - in particular, the last 10 minutes, in which we, the audience, were not so subtly being manipulated. "Will they get together? Will they not? Yes? No? Yes? No?" I felt like I was watching a soap opera. Whenever a director distrusts an audience so greatly that he feels he has to overtly manipulate them into feeling what he wants them to feel, the movie is cheapened - often beyond redemption.

Still, it was so much fun to watch De Niro and Streep -