Warren Schmidt (Nicholson) is an excruciatingly average American. The film opens with him in a faded-photograph-blue-tint city office. No windows, files all boxed up, he waits patiently for the clock to strike five and walks tentatively away to his also muted retirement party where his best friend gives an oddly haunting speech about what really matters in life.

That's pretty much what Warren spends the rest of the film trying to find out, without really knowing he's trying to find it out.

I loved this film. Warm in its loving yet unforgivingly inconsistent depiction of everyday people, relaxed in its perfect quiet pace and proud in its message. Though Jack is a big name, this little film is more of an indie in its simplicity both in the audio and visual. Simple but exacting. Exacting, but colorful, despite the washed-out skies.

By the poster, I'd expected to see Jack once again play the lunatic, but that charismatic demented poster misleads. Warren is excruciatingly average.

(This film viewed at Alhambra's Edwards Renaissance Stadium 14)

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