Faith in Film 2, Week 8

Title: “About Schmidt” (2002)

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Katy Bates, Hope Davis, and Dermott Mulroney

Synopsis: This film from director Alexander Payne was largely over looked by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Jack Nicholson was nominated as Best Actor and should have won for his performance, which is one of the finest of his career. In the last decade it was another of Payne’s films, the 2004 comedy “Sideways,” that earned praise and landed on the Best of the Decade lists. For my money, this film is funnier, more engrossing, and has a lot more heart. That’s why I put it on the list of my favorite films of the first decade of the 21st Century.

The film centers on an aging insurance executive named Warren Schmidt (Nicholson) just as he enters retirement. He lived his whole life by a rigid schedule, including the life with his wife and his daughter. When he retires, Schmidt begins to wonder what his life has really meant and if anything he’s done with his time on Earth will have a lasting impact. Revelations about his wife’s past and the upcoming wedding of his daughter cast a further shadow on how Schmidt perceives his life. He goes on a soul searching, cross-country trip where he tries to reconcile what he knows of himself and his life as he attempts to answer the question of what impact, if any, his life has had on the world.

Questions to Consider:
1. Have you ever felt lost in your life? If so, why?



2. Have you ever felt like your life lacks purpose?



3. What do you do to add meaning to your life?

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