As Good as It Gets (1997) on Netflix
PG-1319972h 19mComedyDramaRomance
Misanthropic novelist Melvin Udall lives by rigid routines, and only Carol Connelly, a server at his regular restaurant, tolerates him. His neighbor Simon Bishop is assaulted in a robbery.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.7/10340,348 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes86%
Trailer
Plot summary
Soap used once, paper towels on faucets, no stepping on sidewalk cracks: Melvin Udall's New York City days run on rituals, and breakfast comes at the same restaurant table with his own plastic flatware. Carol Connelly, a single mother with an acutely asthmatic son, Spencer, is the only server who puts up with him. Melvin's neighbor, the artist Simon Bishop, is assaulted and nearly killed in a robbery at his apartment. Simon's agent, Frank Sachs, pushes Melvin into caring for Simon's dog, Verdell, while Simon is in the hospital. When Carol takes a job closer to home in Brooklyn to be near Spencer, Melvin cannot settle into a new server's routine and offers to pay for the boy's medical care if she comes back.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about As Good as It Gets (1997)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- At the 70th Academy Awards the film was nominated in seven categories, including Best Picture, and Jack Nicholson won Best Actor while Helen Hunt won Best Actress - still the most recent film to win both lead acting awards.
- In 1996, James L. Brooks flew Geoffrey Rush from Sydney to Los Angeles to audition for the part of Simon Bishop, and offered him the role, but Rush declined it.
- Jack Nicholson and James L. Brooks clashed on set over Nicholson's performance as Melvin, leading to a production halt while the two found the correct tone for the character.
- Betty White was offered a role in the film but declined it, because of a scene in which a dog is thrown into a trash chute.
- As Good as It Gets opened at number three behind Titanic and Tomorrow Never Dies with $12.6 million, and eventually earned $314 million worldwide, making it Jack Nicholson's second-highest-earning film behind Batman.
- Owen Wilson served as associate producer on As Good as It Gets, which was one of his first jobs in Hollywood.
