As Good as It Gets (1997): Learning How to Be a Person Again

In As Good as It Gets (1997), Jack Nicholson’s Melvin Udall is a romance novelist who seems determined to keep the entire world at arm’s length, that is until Helen Hunt’s Carol, Greg Kinnear’s Simon, and one ridiculously lovable monkey-faced little dog start getting through the armor. This week, we talk about Melvin’s OCD without confusing it with the many other ways he can be an absolute ass, whether Carol really should be anywhere near this man romantically, and why Simon may be the person who actually teaches Melvin how to open his heart. We get into loneliness, isolation, found family, mental health, the myth that love magically fixes people, and the much harder truth that change takes work, one crack-avoiding step at a time. Along the way, there’s Verdell, Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear breaking our hearts, Cuba Gooding Jr., a surprising number of familiar faces, a desperate need for a hot Kaiser roll at an unreasonable hour, and somehow the discovery that As Good as It Gets was once released under a title involving cat poop. Then we put the movie through our Stitch Count, where As Good as It Gets earns a surprisingly strong 8 out of 9. So grab something cozy, get in the blanket fort, and join us!