About Schmidt is the sort of tragi-comedy that wouldn't look out of place on recent BBC2 schedules, alongside The Office, I'm Alan Partridge or Marion And Geoff. What's remarkable about this tale of one man's journey to the edge, though, is that it's Jack Nicholson, the virtual King of Hollywood, playing the wretchedly brow-beaten Warren Schmidt.

Warren is not one of life's big winners. He's just been farmed out to retirement by his safe, dependable job in the insurance trade, and the future looks bleak.

His colleagues have already forgotten him, his homely but irritating wife has made him buy a mobile home style Winnebago against his will, and his daughter rarely sees him, instead preparing to marry a moron called Randall.

In fact, the only comfort his new life gives him is when he stumbles upon a TV advert encouraging sponsorship of needy children in third world countries. Signing up, he becomes foster father to the six-year-old Ndugu, for the princely sum of $22 per month.

But everything changes when his wife suddenly drops dead. Unprepared for a life alone, he drifts toward breakdown, calculating his own life expectancy using his skills as an ex-insurance man (nine years, maybe). Desperate, he takes to the road in his Winnebago. Hoping to stop his daughter from marrying Randall, he embarks upon a voyage of discovery and embarrassment, trying once more to give his life meaning.

Anybody expecting a full-on comedy should be warned; this is a film with more quiet mirth than outright laughter. It's full of painful, mortifying encounters as Schmidt struggles through the desolation that he thinks his life has become.

The funniest moments come from Warren's letters to his young foster child, explaining the current trials of his life ("Dear Ndugu, I hope you're sitting down, because I have some bad news..."). It's a clever device that superbly sets the dark and subtle tone of humour that runs throughout the film.

The support is faultless, from Dermot Mulroney as the dopey Randall (struggling with a mind-bogglingly awful haircut) to Kathy Bates as his kind but crude mother.

This is Nicholson's film though, and he's rarely been better. Whereas most actors of his generation shave the years off their roles and chase leading ladies half their age (step forward Warren Beatty and Sean Connery), Nicholson takes a warts-and-all approach to this tale of late-life crisis.

As someone regarded as one of the coolest actors of the last thirty years, it's a brave move to wear such an awful comb-over hairstyle and highlight that expanding waistline.

In fact, the Oscar nomination is inevitable. He really can say more with a single expression than most actors can in pages of dialogue. And although Warren is at times pathetic and frustrating company, Nicholson brings a touching sense of sadness and regret to the role.

It is a very gently paced film, possibly a little too slow for some tastes. The dry humour may not really be up everyone's street, and some may also find the low-key finale a bit frustrating. But it is a clever, beautifully performed little oddity, and a must-see for any true Jack fans.

January 30, 2003 15:30