When writing a critique on a film you can judge two things - its merits (ie. how well it was made) and its entertainment value - the films which succeed on both counts usually are the best. The former most people can agree on (ie. what's a good script, performance, etc.) but the latter varies greatly and is entirely subjective. 'Trash Cinema' are films with poor merits but high entertainment value (ala "Anaconda", "Showgirls") - movies that are awful from a filmmaking point of view but a heck of a lot of fun from a personal standpoint.

On the flipside there's 'Upscale Cinema' - movies which you can tell are extremely well scripted and shot with great detail and care but which personally you find yourself utterly bored by. To me "About Schmidt" is this year's best piece of 'Upscale Cinema'. It's a movie which contains two truly outstanding performances from Jack Nicholson & Kathy Bates and some very memorable scenes, but is also quite frankly one of the most boring films I've seen outside of certain efforts of Kubrick or Scorsese.

'Schmidt' is a slice-of-life movie designed to show the sheer emptiness and tediousness of the everyday for the majority of us out there - it's both a darkly satirical yet movingly tragic piece which is admittedly a very bold step in terms of American cinema. Why? More than any other film culture, the spoken word or flashy visual is the key element of American film yet both said elements are notably absent here.

This is a film which embraces silence, pause and the sheer power of dead air more than any other film this year. Its a devastating piece which changes mood frequently and yet with ease, and never once steps outside the realm of credibility. The attention to the minutiae of reality from the many awkward farewells people say to Warren as they don't want to be around him (a feeling I can definitely empathise with) to the emotional sense of grief and lost time that really stick with you long after the film ended.

Holding it all together though is Jack. Nicholson is unabashedly brilliant and undaunted in the film - every scene involves him in some way and he never once lets up from moments of physical comedy to a tear-jerkingly schmaltzy climax. Bates is in good company as a slightly eccentric character, and in one scene bares it all (good on ya Kathy) without hesitation. Both Hope Davis and Dermot Mulroney put in excellent supporting turns.

Make no mistake about it though this is a VERY slow movie, it makes "Eyes Wide Shut" look like "Go" on speed, yet it's this lethargy which is the film's key point. The filmmakers have made some deep and very honest statements here which all audiences have to admire but they've been delivered in a way which many will not get too involved with. I wish I could give it more but I just can't - those who can tolerate it though will find a rich and powerful experience in this.