Movie Review

Directed by Alexander Payne, starring: Jack Nicholson (Schmidt), June Squibb (Helen), Hope Davis (Jeannie), Dermot Mulroney (Randall) and Kathie Bates (Roberta) 124 minutes, 2002.

Warren Schmidt is a most ordinary man. He has worked for Woodmen of the World Insurance, headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, as an actuarial executive for over 40 years. We meet him on his last day of work. He is sitting alone in his office, dwarfed by the boxes that contain the meaning of his life in the records of his work, waiting for the clock to strike 5:00. The rituals of retirement are observed; a company dinner, bad jokes by colleagues and friends, a parting gift.

Then, it is on to the next phase. Warren does not face retirement well. He makes a trip down to the office, notices the "Schmidt Archives" abandoned in the recycling area outside the building, gets the brush off from his replacement and feels the sting of inconsequentiality. One day as he channel hops through a sea of vapid infomercials (bun tightners to kitchen gadgets) he happens upon an ad from Childreach and he is inspired to sponsor a child for $22 a month. He is informed that the child is Ndugu, a six-year-old Tanzanian boy.

We learn much about Schmidt's life as he writes long and soulful letters to Ndugu. This is the dramatic conceit of the story. He writes all manner of reflection, confession and advice to the young, illiterate boy. Schmidt soon embarks on a journey of discovery when he is forced to confront the true depths of his tumultuous emotions. He sets out in his 35 foot Winnebago (The Adventurer) on a road trip, a journey of self-discovery and nostalgia. As an actuary he is able to calculate, with great probability, the length of a man's life. He estimated that he had 9 years left, "if he didn't marry". He decides he has no time to waste so sets out to drive to Denver where his daughter Jeannie lives and who is about to get married to Randall, a waterbed salesman. Warren's mission is to convince her that she should not marry Randall.

Randall's family, an odd free spirited bunch, embraces Schmidt. Roberta, Randall's mother joins Warren, au naturel, in the hot tub. Warren, of course, fails in his mission of stopping the wedding and makes a very gracious speech at the wedding reception. He returns to Omaha full of regret and beset by the questions that are the right questions for this stage of life: What have I done? Have I accomplished anything? What is the value of my life? Am I a failure? What kind of difference did I make?

Religion is peripheral, at best, to Schmidt's life. An earnest cleric assures him that "God can handle it if we are angry with him" when Helen dies; the church is present at his daughter's wedding; Randall offers the platitude "we'll be praying for you". However, the deeper symbols of Time, Journey and Pilgrimage (One does not decide to go on a pilgrimage. Rather, one is led….) suffuse the story.

When he opens the mail that has accumulated there is a letter from Tanzania. A nun writes it from the orphanage where Ndugu lives and she tells him how much Ndugu loves him and benefits from his contribution. Ndugu has drawn a picture of himself and Warren holding hands. Schmidt dissolves in tears and I did too.

Nicholson plays the ordinary man Schmidt with subdued charm. In his search for meaning, his life review and pilgrimage, he is like those at the edge of the crowd to whom Jesus said "In as much as you have done it unto the least of these…"