YMMV / About Schmidt

• 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.
• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • How awful is Warren's life, really? While many of his anxieties are legitimate, others are purely a product of his own pessimism and ego, and everything he complains about is directly juxtaposed with the life of Ndugu, who struggles day to day simply trying to keep from going hungry.
  • Maybe Randall is a "loser" Manchild in Warren's eyes, but there is absolutely no suggestion that he has ever been abusive toward Jeannie, and they seem to be genuinely happy together. Jeannie even tells Warren off about never even bothering to see how her life was doing before her decision to marry Randall, and Warren's presence at her wedding is a mere formality.
  • Does Randall try to push the pyramid scheme onto everyone he meets because he's a bumbling Con Man, or is he just a gullible loser who fell for the con himself and naively perpetuates it?
  • Roberta may be pushy, but she's also the only person around Warren who is actually an active, positive personality. She's not hangdog like Randall, Jeannie, or her ex-husband. She's intolerant of bullshit, like Warren, and she is quite frank, unlike the lying Warren and everyone else. Is the scene where Warren runs away from her when she attempts to seduce him in the hot tub meant to cement her as being just as repulsive as the rest of her family, or reveal Warren's shallowness and/or unwillingness to be intimate with someone he may genuinely form a connection with?
  • What are we meant to think of Gary Nordin, Warren's replacement at Woodmen of the World? While he comes across as fairly smarmy, he is only ever polite to Warren and there is nothing outside of Warren's sour grapes to suggest that he isn't qualified for the position. While Warren is indignant that he would refuse his help after claiming otherwise during his retirement party, it was he who approached Gary asking if he needed help in the first place, just one day after passing on the job to him.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: Or rather "Best Known for the Fan Disservice" as it is. Bring this movie up in conversation and the first thing anyone remembers is Kathy Bates doffing her robe.
• Signature Scene: Kathy Bates in a hot tub.
• Wangst: Warren writes letters lamenting his horrible life to Ndugu, who likely spends ever day just hoping for enough food and some clean water. When you take a step back and look at it, Warren's life would be the envy of most of the world, including other Americans. He's had a successful career and a decent retirement to look forward to. His wife was unfaithful decades before, and she annoys the heck out of him, but she clearly cares about him and takes care of him in a traditional manner. He's not close with his daughter, but they're not estranged either and they came out of two very stressful events (wife's death and wedding) with their relationship more or less intact. This is undoubtedly the point of the movie.