I didn't particularly enjoy this movie because I wanted it to get up and go but it merely went away. I take it as a depressing, cynical, condescending look at a retired insurance actuary's life in retirement. It was an indictment of midwestern life, its people, and the way they act. This aspect was done much better in "Fargo". In the first place, Schmidt was a simpleton, a dolt who couldn't comb his own hair - not particularly accurate for the actuaries I've known who are generally brilliant people. The gloomy panning of the Omaha skyline is a not too subtle cheap shot at the midwest, as is the entire movie and its characters. The in-law family and the wedding scene were actually quite accurate in depicting the goofiness some people and families display at functions in everyday life. It wasn't particularly interesting to watch such people and I wonder if the makers of this film understand that we see movies to be entertained, not bored by the underbelly of society. This movie wants to say that Schmidt is a hopeless dolt who cannot handle his retirement and his life and whose emotions are so bottled up that it looks like he's ready to explode at any minute. Is this enjoyable, instructive, meaningful, entertaining? I think of it as just another pretentious attempt to create a classic of filmdom while managing to bore the Hell out of the majority of us viewers. Consider the bonus material on the DVD. There are long strings of text as preambles to the outtakes that we have to wade through before viewing them. A simple suggestion to the director - how about you telling us about each outtake with your voice instead of forcing us to read the drivel that precedes them? Yes, we're forced to read that material and we're forced to think about Schmidt's dilemma, not all bad, but it is so utterly depressing in the process that on balance we are not stimulated or entertained and if we don't have either of those we are not pleased with the experience. Giving it a rating of 6 is very generous.
Review of About Schmidt
