one of my absolute favorites!

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

As Good As It Gets

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Gee, this 1990 movie is now viewed in February 2018, time really really flies, dude. Look at the cast who were in 1990, Jesus, all of them looked so young and so beautiful: James Spader, Wow, what a handsome dude! But now in "The Blacklist", now quite so. Jason Alexander, he still got full thick hair in 1990 (or he's already wearing wig, because in "Seinfeld" he was already as bald as a bald eagle!) Kathy Bates, still such a beautiful, attractive even sexy woman. Susan Sarandon, my my, she might be the only person who didn't change too much, because she still looked pretty sexy in "Ray Donovan (2017)". What an evergreen woman she is!The Nora Baker role she played lived in a dump, a typical slob who lost the will and interest to live well. I just wonder why I didn't see cockroaches in that house. Why I didn't see cockroaches crawling on Max Baron's drunken body..."When is the last you had a date?" "What if I told you I wasn't interested in getting laid right now?" "Interest in getting laid is the human condition. For Christ's sake, Max. It's all around you..."Then, INSHALLA, he just got laid that night! Good for him!

It's not the age difference that's the issue here; this is a movie about the arbitrariness of attraction. The two protagonists seem to have nothing in common, except a deep sense of personal loss. They are worlds apart. Men and women often fall in love without a reason, or at least a reason that others can understand. It may be inexplicable, ridiculous, unbelievable, outrageous- whatever. It happens! The only flaws of this virtually unknown film are the awful music/sound design and the terribly clichéd ending. Sarandon is at her best, while James Spader is unforgettable as always. All in all, a very underrated movie, with fine acting as its main strength.

James Spader seemed to only play characters who behave in off-beat ways. I suppose that if everything was normal, then there wouldn't be anything to have a movie about, but he corners the the market on creepy obsession. Anyway, aside from that the film isn't particularly bad. And people do fall for spectacularly unsuitable matches all the time. When I first saw this film, I was closer to Max's twenty-seven than to Nora's forty-three, and I understood the characters in a different way than I did yesterday, when Nora is now a young woman to me. She loves Max, but makes no effort to fit in in his world. She is too angry about the class differences. It was/is the way of the world.

I can't help saying: this movie has the best erotic scene of cinema forever!.. I have never seen anything like this. It's done so emotionally, hotly, touchingly..! Spader/Sarandon's pairing here is absolutely amazing.. Everyone is writing here about excellent acting of Susan Sarandon here, I agree, but I want to say about James Spader. In this movie his performing is brilliant, he looks very convincingly in the role of young Jewish guy, white-collar worker, who is trying to cope with the loss of his beloved wife. The scene when Nora is "attacking" him in a bar is filmed so carefully.. There isn't any superfluous movement, any false look.. Everything is perfect. And then, at Nora's place, first he looks so vulnerable and so protected at the same time.. And it's so hot to watch how he is giving in gradually. I regret that young James Spader hadn't been filmed enough by really good directors and in the pairings with really high-class actresses, like here, in "White palace". I think cinema hasn't realized completely his fantastic potential. I strongly recommend this movie for everyone who likes good psychological drama with very good erotic scenes..