As Good As It Gets (1997)

All Critics (77) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (66) | Rotten (11) | DVD (16)

A sporadically funny romantic comedy with all the dramatic plausibility and tonal consistency of a TV variety show.

July 2, 2008 Full Review

Todd McCarthy

Variety

Top Critic

The trouble lies in the rambling narrative, Brooks' cautious direction and the cosy tone which renders the whole thing reminiscent of an extended sitcom.

June 24, 2006 Full Review

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Top Critic

Romance comedies definitely come better than this, although perhaps not lately.

April 12, 2002 Full Review

Rick Groen

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

It's fun to watch Jack Nicholson draw on great reservoirs of bile to play a mean SOB with an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

February 14, 2001 Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Entertainment Weekly

Top Critic

It's a mark of how magically written, directed and acted As Good as It Gets is that we end up loving this film despite knowing how haphazard, scattershot and almost indefinable its charm is.

February 14, 2001 Full Review

Kenneth Turan

Los Angeles Times

Top Critic

The movie succeeds at many moments even while pursuing its doomed grand design.

January 1, 2000 Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Given that this was one of 1997's in-the-shadow-of-Titanic mainstays, it's a little disturbing that James L. Brooks's double-Oscar-winning comedy should get what amounts to a home-video brush-off.

June 14, 2012 Full Review

Jaime N. Christley

Slant Magazine

Funny, but not a light comedy for youngsters.

January 2, 2011 Full Review

Kelly Kessler

Common Sense Media

The greatest pleasures come from the acting.

March 29, 2009 Full Review

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

The movie's too long, and the direction is sometimes slack -- but the script is crammed with withering ripostes, ably delivered by Nicholson and Hunt.

September 3, 2008 Full Review

Sandra Contreras

TV Guide's Movie Guide

Not only one of the best romantic comedies of the year, but one of the best films in ages.

December 30, 2006 Full Review

Garth Franklin

Dark Horizons

Both funny and sad, the comedy was in the vein of Brooks' Terms of Endearment, except it was more eccentric and nuttier and in moments genuinely touching due to strong chemistry between Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.

February 24, 2006 Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

An inflated TV show by a sitcom creator.

February 9, 2006 Full Review

Jake Euker

F5 (Wichita, KS)

The character is written as the most unlikable person one could ever meet. Despite this fact, Jack manages to make the character sympathetic.

December 6, 2005 Full Review

Anthony Miele

Film Threat

The unpredictable and fresh 'As Good As It Gets' is peppered with memorable Brooks lines and physical schtick.

May 28, 2005 Full Review

Steve Crum

Kansas City Kansan

Mildly likable.

April 9, 2005 Full Review

Robin Clifford

Reeling Reviews

...a precariously balanced movie, one that flirts with smugness. That it isn't awful is in some respects amazing.

January 27, 2005 Full Review

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

... it coaxes us to be more open to each other, more compassionate, and more loving.

December 6, 2004 Full Review

Jeffrey Overstreet

Looking Closer

Like Broadcast News, James L. Brooks' new film is a dark-edged adult comedy that hits the spot for those who like their romances splashed with acidic wit.

June 25, 2004 Full Review

Judith Egerton

Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Even the familiar scenes and situations look refreshing.

January 8, 2004 Full Review

Dragan Antulov

rec.arts.movies.reviews

Humorous, romantic, personal.

February 8, 2003 Full Review

John R. McEwen

Film Quips Online

Perhaps, though, it is Carol's (and Hunt's) ongoing commitment to emotional honesty and fair play that make it increasingly difficult to ignore the film's encroaching patterns of sentimentality and uninspired developments.

January 10, 2003 Full Review

Nick Davis

Nick's Flick Picks

An honest, original comedy about recognizable human beings.

October 15, 2002 Full Review

Margaret A. McGurk

Cincinnati Enquirer

• 1. Melvin Udall: People who talk in metaphors oughta shampoo my crotch.
  – Submitted by Jeremy F (4 months ago)
• 1. Melvin Udall: Some of us have great stories, pretty stories that take place at lakes, with boats, and friends, and noodle salad. Just no one in this car. But, a lot of people, that's their story; good times, noodle salad. What makes it so hard is not that you had it bad, but that you're that pissed that so many others had it good.
  – Submitted by Jim G (8 months ago)
• 1. Melvin Udall: Well, I work all the time. So never interrupt me. Not if there's a fire. Not even if you hear the sound of a thud coming from my home and a week later, there's a smell that can only be a decaying human body and you have to put a hanky up to your nose because the smell is so bad, you think you're gonna faint. Even then don't come knocking. Or, if it's election night, and you're excited and you wanna celebrate because some fudge packer you date has become the first queer president of the United States and he's going to have you down to Camp David, and you want someone to share the moment with. Even then, don't knock, not on this door. Not for any reason. Do you get me, sweetheart?
  – Submitted by Cody H (8 months ago)
• 1. Melvin Udall: I had to see you.
  2. Carol Connelly: Because?
  3. Melvin Udall: It relaxes me. I'd feel better sitting outside your apartment on the curb than any other place I can think of or imagine.
  – Submitted by Jayathra L (9 months ago)
• 1. Jackie: How do you write women so well?
  2. Melvin Udall: I think of a man. And I take away reason and accountability.
  – Submitted by Jayathra L (9 months ago)
• 1. Melvin Udall: Sell crazy someplace else. We're all stocked up here!
  – Submitted by Marc H (9 months ago)

There are no discussion threads for As Good As It Gets yet.