As Good as It Gets

As Good as It Gets is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by James L. Brooks, who co-wrote it with Mark Andrus. The film stars Jack Nicholson as a misanthropic, bigoted, and obsessive–compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt as a single mother with a chronically ill son, and Greg Kinnear as a homosexual artist. The film premiered in Regency Village Theatre on December 6, 1997, and was released in theaters on December 25, 1997, and was a critical and box office hit, grossing $314.1 million on a $50 million budget. Nicholson and Hunt won the Academy Award for Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively, making As Good as It Gets the most recent film to win both of the lead acting awards, and the first since 1991's The Silence of the Lambs. It was also nominated for Best Picture but ultimately lost to Titanic. It is ranked 140th on Empire magazine's "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time" list. Plot Misanthropic New York City best-selling romance novelist Melvin Udall has obsessive–compulsive disorder; he uses soap bars to wash his hands only once, dislikes touching pets, avoids stepping on sidewalk cracks while walking through the city, has rituals with switches, and always eats his breakfast at the same table in the same restaurant. He takes an interest in his waitress, Carol Connelly, the only server at the restaurant who can tolerate his odd behavior. One day, Melvin's apartment neighbor, gay artist Simon Bishop, starts working with a new model, Vincent Lopiano. Vincent uses the opportunity to case Simon's apartment and allow his friends inside, who assault and nearly kill Simon during the robbery. Simon's agent, Frank Sachs, intimidates Melvin into caring for Simon's Griffon Bruxellois, Verdell, while he is hospitalized. Although Melvin initially does not enjoy caring for the dog, he becomes emotionally attached to it and simultaneously receives more attention from Carol. When Simon is released from the hospital, Melvin is unable to emotionally cope with returning the dog. Melvin's life is further altered when Carol decides to work closer to her home in Brooklyn so she can care for her acutely asthmatic son Spencer. Unable to adjust to a different waitress, Melvin arranges through his publisher (whose husband is a doctor) to pay for her son's considerable medical expenses as long as Carol agrees to return to work. She is overwhelmed but is suspicious of his generosity.