About Schmidt is clearly the most overrated movie of the year, and has the most misleading ad campaign of the year. The ads make it look like a light-hearted romp, when really it is dark and depressing, interspersed with a few mildly humorous (yet oddly sad) moments. In the movie, Schmidt is a man who just retired to realize his whole life has meant nothing. So he makes a few feeble attempts to change that but learns that he can't. He is sad, depressed, and worthless at the start, and sad, depressed, and worthless at the end. And that is the problem with this movie -- it doesn't GO anywhere. It's like watching depressed friends discuss their problems for two straight hours as they forget that you are there. To be fair, the performances are amazing, and the dialogue is very real, but it just sits there, like a slow day of flipping channels. If you want to be depressed by a good movie, see Leaving Las Vegas, or even The Man Who Wasn't There. This one has nothing to say -- just a blank demonstration of how depressed good actors can make you.
Review of About Schmidt
