as good as it gets * * * 1/4 . directed by james l . brooks . written by brooks and mark andrus from a story by andrus . photography , john bailey . editing , richard marks . production design , bill brzeski . produced by james l . brooks , kristi zea and bridget johnson . cast : jack nicholson , helen hunt , greg kinnear , cuba gooding , jr . , skeet ulrich , shirley knight , et al . . a tristar release . 132 minutes . pg-13 . breaking news : this movie has swept the golden globes awards in the musical or comedy category : best picture . best actor ( jack nicholson ) . best actress ( helen hunt ) now playing , the shaggy dog film " wag the dog " is dogless . also playing is " as good as it gets " in which a real shaggy dog -- a rare brussels griffon--steals scenes and becomes the agent of major changes . its name is verdell , which i first took for " fidel , " which made me expect a partly political film , which it isn't . fitting no pigeonhole category , it comes closest to a socio-psychological comedy-drama . " as good " also stars jack nicholson , in top para-satanic and aggressive form , circumflex eyebrows , hooded eyes ranking with the best ( victor mature's , bob mitchum's ) , incongruous tan for a new yorker ( but no one yet has ever been able to challenge the deep bronzing of douglas fairbanks , sr ) and his bag of eccentricities at an apex . the movie has both originality and well-crafted , deja-filmed mainstream appeal . peripherally , it is a distant variant on beauty and the beast , the taming of the shrew ( with sexes reversed ) . centrally , it is a showcase for the talents of nicholson and helen hunt . melvin udall ( nicholson ) is a misanthropic , bilious , hypochondriac , reclusive mega-nut . his manias include always washing with a fresh cake of soap ; walking to the same restaurant daily at 11 am for a giga-cholesterol breakfast at " his " table served by " his " waitress ; bringing his own plastic knives and forks ; wearing disposable surgical gloves ; avoiding brushing against people or stepping on sidewalk cracks . all of this , plus more quirks , is apparently explained by his suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder . that's bad enough , but melvin is a pain in every other way too . he's a champion people-insulter and , among other lovely traits , homophobic , african-american-fearing , and a jew-and-everybody-else equal opportunity hater . this includes animals . the action begins with mel ( who probably hates his parents for his name ) throwing his neighbor's beloved pooch verdell down the laundry chute . the neighbor , simon ( kinnear ) is a successful painter , whose art dealer friend is a classy african-american named with originality frank sachs ( gooding ) . both are gay , but not that you could tell . the other major " dramatis persona " is carol ( hunt ) , mel's habitual , suffering , and onlywaitress acceptable to mel at the restaurant . she is a single mother with a dangerously asthmatic boy , lives with him her mother ( knight ) in far-off brooklyn , trudging to and fro exhausted by her waitressing and her motherly duties . when simon is brutally beaten up by invading , thieving street hoods , and taken to the hospital , frank sticks mel with the dog in a way that mel cannot refuse . predictably , grudgingly ( and unconvincingly ) , the writer and the canine fall for each other . did i say " writer " ? yes , that's what mel does for a living , composing romances for female readership and making lots of money from his 62 or so purple-prose novels . the contrast between his profession and his character is absurd , rates an f for credibility . mel explains his knowing portrayals of women by : " i think of a man , then i take away reason and accountability . " this adds gynecophobia to the list , makes us think of mel as a virgin ( ? ? ! ! ) and simply won't wash . upon his return from the hospital , simon finds himself broke : he has no health insurance ( a real tragedy for so many self-employed ) , his medical bill is over $60 , 000 , his art has been vandalized , his will to paint has vanished , he is losing his apartment . but look what animal companionship can do for people ! increasingly human and humane mel comes to the rescue . and by some intricate plot devices , he also delivers carol and her son from the evil of uncaring doctors and medical bills . it's artificial plotting but while you are watching it , it is also warm , lovely and well-acted . all the while , of course , mel is falling for carol . but the new mel dies hard . when he introduces his friends to one another he says : " carol the waitress . simon the fag . " i'll stop here . nicholson , in spite of his improbable role , is nicholson , meaning as good as ever , even better perhaps . no surprise here . the real revelation is helen hunt . i have never cared much for her flimsy , parts in tv's " mad about you , " and while she has many more credits , too many of them were in unmemorable productions . she was finally top-listed in her previous film " twister " ( 1996 ) , but her role was pallid . now finally helen hunt has come into her own . without bravura or pointedly dramatic or humorous scenes and repartees , without prettifying makeup or sexy clothes , without scene-stealing episodes , hunt does steal the whole movie . in one of the most amazing transformations in recent cinema , she makes palpable her struggle with life and conditions , her exhaustion as waitress , caring mom , commuter and debtor in splendidly veristic ways . we learn nothing about the father of her child , or for that matter about the earlier carol , yet she is three-dimensional both in her sadness , depression , lack of men in her life as well as in her moments of humor and happiness . cannily , the script adds rounding off carol through a funny-turning-unfunny interlude with a lover who vanishes . aged beyond her 34 years , not especially pretty by ordinary standards , she is enormously likable , appealing , real and , yes , even sexy . she also strikes very believably at hmos and the medical profession , though the " deus ex machina " introduction of a wise , wonderful doctor restores some balance . yet , what with simon's lack of insurance , a strong case is made against our health system . multiple oscar-winning writer-director-producer brooks had previously directed " terms of endearment , " " broadcast news " and the notorious " i'll do anything , " which , filmed as a musical , failed in previews and had to come out as a non-musical . even so , the latter is my favorite brooks movie , partly because of its superb direction of actors . now brooks repeats his tour-de-force with helen hunt . no matter how iffy the tale , the performances make it a winner . 
