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[[File:as-good-as-it-gets-with-a-brussels-griffon4_1272.jpg|frame
'''''As Good As It Gets''''' is a 1997 [[Rom Com]] from the mind of [[James L. Brooks]], and starring [[Jack Nicholson]], [[Helen Hunt]], and [[Greg Kinnear]]. Featuring a relatively small cast, the crux of the story revolves around a reclusive novelist named Melvin Udall: his harassment of his neighbour, Simon (Kinnear) and his <s> fixation</s> dependence on Carol Connolly (Hunt), a [[Alas, Poor Scrappy|down on her luck]] single mom with a perennially-ill son. The main characters are as follows:▼
▲{{quote| ''"A Comedy From the Heart That Goes For the Throat"''}}
▲''As Good As It Gets'' is a 1997 [[Rom Com]] from the mind of [[James L. Brooks]], and starring [[Jack Nicholson]], [[Helen Hunt]], and [[Greg Kinnear]]. Featuring a relatively small cast, the crux of the story revolves around a reclusive novelist named Melvin Udall: his harassment of his neighbour, Simon (Kinnear) and his <s> fixation</s> dependence on Carol Connolly (Hunt), a [[Alas, Poor Scrappy|down on her luck]] single mom with a perennially-ill son. The main characters are as follows:
▲--Melvin Udall (Nicholson): a reclusive, Obsessive-Compulsive bigot and, in classic Nicholson style, the name at the top of the marquee; Udall also happens to be his publisher's highest-selling novelist (62 books, on par with [[Stephen King]], for a sense of scale), and chronically dependent on waitress Carol Connolly, who waits on him--patiently--in the Manhattan restaurant at which he dines daily.
▲--Carol Connolly (Hunt): a beleaguered single mom, working a comfortable (if somewhat unfulfilling) waitress job at a Manhattan diner. Melvin's chosen waitress--for little other reason than his OCD-fuelled dependence on her, and, at least in his mind, her willingness to put up with him. Lives with her mother and chronically-ill son, Spencer, in Brooklyn.
▲--Simon Bishop (Kinnear): Melvin's neighbor. A painter whose two passions in life are his beloved Brussels-Griffon, Verdell, and painting. His dreams get dashed violently when a street ruffian and his friends {{spoiler|rob Simon and beat him within an inch of his life.}} Hereafter, while Simon's away getting treated, Verdell the dog falls under the care of Melvin--who has trouble adjusting. Then gets over it. Then has trouble dealing with the absence in his life once Verdell {{spoiler|goes back to Simon.}}
From here, [[Rule of Drama]] ensues. Being a [[James L. Brooks]] production, natch, it intersperses all the emotional weight with heaping doses of [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesome]] & [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|heartwarming.]] Also, [[Crowning Music of Awesome|the soundtrack]], by no less than [[Hans Zimmer]], is also the [[Unusual Euphemism|kitty's pajamas.]]
----
{{tropelist}}
* [[Anti-Hero]]: Melvin is an homophobic, racist and misanthropic man who puts off the neighbors in his apartment building and nearly everyone else with whom he comes into contact. However, he becomes more gentle towards the end.
* [[Berserk Button]]: Carol is as patient as one can humanly be when dealing with Melvin, but when he makes a snarky comment that everyone eventually will die, including her sick son, she chews him out in public, with a [[Precision F-Strike]] (as an noun towards Melvin). It is such a shock that even Melvin is rendered speechless, and quietly apologizes.
** Though it is notable that he'd already gotten a bit of an [[Oh Crap]] look on his face as soon as the words were out of his mouth and before she said anything, clearly realizing he'd let his [[Jerkass]] stream of consciousness go too far.
* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]: Simon's manager Frank likes to play as if he's kind, caring, and attentive, but he consistently avoids actually having to do anything to be helpful himself, going so far as to threaten Melvin into forcing him to be the good guy.
* [[Camp Gay]]: Melvin certainly seems to think Simon is one. Aside from a positively [[Squick|Squicky]] attachment to his dog, he's fairly [[Incredibly Lame Pun|straight up]].
** Although he is rather close with Frank, and even admits to Melvin he had no interest
* [[Dark and Troubled Past]]: ''Everyone!''
** Simon's back story involved his childhood pastime of painting his mother in the nude. [[Freud Was Right|His dad didn't approve.]]
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* [[Dysfunction Junction]]
* [[Gayngst]]: Lampshaded when straight Melvin asks Simon after all the horrible things that have happened to him if he thinks his life would have been easier if he were straight, which causes Simon to ask back: "Do you consider your life ''easy''?"
* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: Melvin and how
* [[Hates Being Touched]]: Melvin
* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: ''Melvin''. Especially once they get back from Maryland.
** Also counts as [[Character Development]], since for the previous two hours of movie, he excelled at [[Jerkass|Jerkassery]] whenever possible.
* [[No Medication for Me]]: A rare and awesome [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] in Melvin's speech complimenting Carol.
{{quote|
'''Carol''':'' "I don't quite get how that's a compliment for me."''
'''Melvin''':'' "You make me want to be a better man."''
* [[Oscar Bait]]: For reasons that have mostly to do with [[Jack Nicholson]]. Oh, it also won for Best Actor and Best Actress.
* [[Pet Homosexual]]: Simon is a [[Deconstruction]] of this character type. {{spoiler|Essentially what happens when the [[Pet Homosexual]] has a [[Heroic BSOD]] and [[The Dog Bites Back|starts biting back]]
* [[Precision F-Strike]]: Three times, but especially this:
{{quote|
'''Carol's Mom:''' Carol!
'''Carol:''' Sorry.
'''Doctor:''' It's okay. Actually, I think that's their technical name.
* [[Shown Their Work]]: Yes, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, though it manifests differently in each case, is presented fairly spot-on here.
* [[Title Drop]]: Melvin says "What if this is as good as it gets?" in a psychiatrist's waiting room.
* [[Underdressed for the Occasion]]: Melvin on his dinner date with Carol.
* [[Why Do You Hate the Dog?]]:
{{reflist}}
{{Golden Globe Award Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy}}
[[Category:As Good as It Gets]]
[[Category:Academy Award]]
[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]
[[Category:
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