History Film / AboutSchmidt

* SocietyMarchesOn: InUniverse. For example, Warren's old fraternity used to be all-white. Now, he pontificates to frat brothers, one of whom is Asian.

* {{Manchild}}: Larry, an elderly {{manchild}} at that. He is even called a "little boy" by his ex-wife Roberta for throwing tantrums, giving such unnecessary redundant speeches, and yelling for Roberta like she's his mother.

* EpicFail: Warren's mission to stop the wedding and reconnect with his daughter did not succeed on any level. The nadir is him giving a cheesy [[StepfordSmiler disingenuous speech]] about how pleased he is with the union.

* CringeComedy: Much of the humor in the film derives from Warren's tendency to stumble into one awkward situation after another. Some are the result of his own bad judgment (such making an inappropriate sexual advance when alone with Vicki), most are due to being forced to interact politely with people he finds irritating or repulsive (his to-be in-laws).

* CringeComedy: Much of the humor in the film derives from Schmidt's tendency to stumble into one awkward situation after another. Some are the result of his own bad judgment (such making an inappropriate sexual advance when alone with Vicki), most are due to being forced to interact with people he finds distasteful (his to-be in-laws).

* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: Warren finds out his wife cheated on him with a co-worker. He later realizes that he was very neglectful and forgives her.

''About Schmidt'' is a 2002 {{dramedy}} movie written and directed by Creator/AlexanderPayne, starring Creator/JackNicholson as Warren Schmidt. It follows the story of an insurance actuary who began his retirement and is unsure of what to do with his self-estimate of 9 years he has left.

Schmidt, having just retired from his career as an insurance actuary, is trying to come to terms with the prospect of spending his last remaining years on Earth with his boring, nagging wife. Out of boredom, he decides to adopt a foster child in Africa, to whom he writes letters about how much his life sucks now. One of the few things that keeps him going is his daughter Jeannie (Creator/HopeDavis), who is about to get married to a dimwitted waterbed salesman named Randall (Creator/DermotMulroney), who also turns out to be a {{jerkass}} [[ConMan pyramid scheme]] [[DumbCrooks recruiter]].

As he goes out one day, mulling about his wife, he returns to find her dead of a blood clot. Not much later, he finds some old love letters lying around the house. It turns out that his wife had an affair with his best friend, some 25 years earlier.

* {{Adorkable}}: Larry. He tries to make eloquent speeches (often when one isn't really called for) about The Schmidts joining the family. It's oddly hilarious and endearing at the same time.

Schmidt, having just retired from his career as an insurance actuary, is trying to come to terms with the prospect of spending his last remaining years on Earth with his boring, nagging wife. Out of boredom, he decides to adopt a foster child in Africa, to whom he writes letters about how much his life sucks now. One of the few things that keeps him going is his daughter Jeannie (Hope Davis), who is about to get married to a dimwitted waterbed salesman named Randall (Dermot Mulroney), who also turns out to be a {{jerkass}} [[ConMan pyramid scheme]] [[DumbCrooks recruiter]].

* PyramidScheme: Randall (Jeannie's fiancee and Warren's anticipated son-in-law) tries to hook Warren into an investment opportunity. Warren, being an actuary familiar with poor investments that carry risk and uncertainty, is skeptical of joining and waits until he is at a table having dinner with others associated with Randall to ask why didn't Randall ever announce his investment was successful. Randall's brother angrily admits it was a pyramid scheme and it cost him $800. This confirms Warren's suspicions were for the wiser, and Randall poorly tries weaseling out with InsaneTrollLogic that [[NeverMyFault he only lost money because his recruits lost money]] [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial and that their recruits failed to find more recruits]].

** Woodmen of the World and Plan USA, of course - the latter had a ColbertBump after the film was released. [[invoked]]

!!''About Schmidt'' provides examples of the following:

* WhatTheHellHero: Jeannie calls out Warren for buying the cheapest casket to bury her dead mother and then for dissuading her from marrying Randall (who was a lousy, dim-witted salesman).

* BigEater: Warren is this. He loves food and is constantly eating (he can buy all the food he wants because of his strong salary as an actuary). Being a {{Manchild}}, Warren eats like a teenager and subsists on ice cream with cookies from Dairy Queen, ham-cheese sandwiches with chips and milk, Red Baron pizzas and Calzones. After his wife passes, Warren decides to rely on frozen corn dogs and fried chicken from the TV dinner brand Hungry Man.

* {{Miser}}: Warren is shown to be stingy with his money, which Jeannie admonishes him about. He got angry at his wife Helen for spending his hard-earned money on nesting dolls and refused to buy an RV the same size she wanted and lets Helen spend her own money to finally afford the Winnebago. Jeannie also feels Warren spent too little on the casket for Helen when she passes. But this turns out to be a positive when Randall tries enticing him on a pyramid scheme and Warren refuses to give in.

* ParentsInDistress: After Warren throws out his back from the water bed Randall supplied him, Jeannie orders Randall to help out and treat Warren. Randall refuses, but then Jeannie angrily snaps back at him to stop pinning everything on her. Roberta ends up nursing Warren.

* EpicFail: Warren's mission to stop the wedding and reconnect with his daughter did not succeed on any level.
** The nadir is him giving a cheesy [[StepfordSmiler disingenuous speech]] about how pleased he is with the union.

'''Ebert:''' ''About Schmidt'' is essentially a portrait of a man without qualities, baffled by the emotions and needs of others.

* {{Irony}}: Warren notes that his old home, which is now a tire store, used to have a tire swing.

* DespairEventHorizon: The entire film is Warren starting at a Despair Event Horizon, and slowly getting worse. Creator/RogerEbert noted that the film was the embodiment of the idiom by Creator/HenryDavidThoreau, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation," as Warren learns that he isn't becoming a special someone that the magazines write about. The climax of his despair is Warren's speech just before receiving the letter.

* NostalgiaFilter: Most of Warren's depression comes from this being stripped from him. For instance, he always thought of his daughter Jeannie as the cute little girl who could charm anyone, but grows up to be homely and bitter, and when Warren insists she can do better than Randall, her reaction screams, "No, I ''can't''."

** Jeannie has married a loser ManChild who has no ambition or any real career prospects, and will presumably start her own family in an already-crowded shoddy slum house in a trash neighborhood, so their future isn't at all bright. And unless Jeannie goes out and works, her family might not have an income to live on due to both of Randall's water bed business and pyramid scheme being dead. But Jeannie and Randall do seem to genuinely love each other.

** When Roberta is taking care of Warren it has some eerie similarities to an earlier star-making role for Kathy Bates.....

* LazyHusband: Warren is implied to have been this to Helen. He made Helen do all the house cleaning and then would got angry at her for spending his money on herself. The day after Helen passes, Warren thinks Jeannie should start cooking and taking care of him.

* NonNudeBathing: Warren during the hot tub scene, ''in some edits''.

* PonziScheme: Randall (Jeannie's fiancee and Warren's anticipated son-in-law) tries to hook Warren into an investment opportunity. Warren, being an actuary familiar with poor investments that carry risk and uncertainty, is skeptical of joining and waits until he is at a table having dinner with others associated with Randall to ask why didn't Randall ever announce his investment was successful. Randall's brother angrily admits it was a pyramid scheme and it cost him $800. This confirms Warren's suspicions were for the wiser, and Randall poorly tries weaseling out with InsaneTrollLogic that [[NeverMyFault he only lost money because his recruits lost money]] [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial and that their recruits failed to find more recruits]].