History YMMV / AboutSchmidt

* {{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.

** 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 has genuinely formed a connection with?

** 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.

** 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.

* SignatureScene: Kathy Bates in a hot tub.

** Does Randall try to push the pyramid scheme onto everyone he meets because he's a bumbling ConMan, or is he just a gullible loser who fell for the con himself and just naively perpetuates it?

** Maybe Randall is a "loser" 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 [[CallingTheOldManOut 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.

* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Or rather "Best Known for the FanDisservice" as it is. Bring this movie up in conversation and the first thing anyone remembers is Kathy Bates doffing her robe.

** 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 in tact.

** 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 does.

** 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 Americans. He's had a successful career and a decent retirement to look forward to. His wife had an infidelity he didn't know about 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 in tact.
** Maybe Randall is a "loser" in Warren's eyes, but there is absolutely no suggestion that Randall has ever been abusive toward Jeannie, and they seem to be genuinely happy together. Jeannie even [[CallingTheOldManOut 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.

* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Or rather "Best Known for the FanDisservice" as it is. Bring this movie up in conversation and the first thing anyone remembers is Kathy Bates doffing her robe.
* FridgeBrilliance: Warren's job is about figuring out how long people have to live, and he's depressed because using his skills, he knows how long ''he'' has left, give or take a few months.

* FridgeBrilliance: Warren's job is about figuring out how long people have to live, and he's depressed because using his skills, he knows how long ''he'' has left, give or take a few months.
* ItsAllAboutMe
** 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 Americans. He's had a successful career and a decent retirement to look forward to. His wife had an infidelity he didn't know about 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 in tact.
* NotSoDifferent
** Maybe Randall is a "loser" in Warren's eyes, but there is absolutely no suggestion that Randall has ever been abusive toward Jeannie, and they seem to be genuinely happy together. Jeannie even [[CallingTheOldManOut 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.

** Maybe Randall is a "loser" in Warren's eyes, but there is absolutely no suggestion that Randall has ever been abusive toward Jeannie, and they seem to be genuinely happy together. It's not like Warren's career path as an insurance actuary makes him any better than a waterbed salesman. Jeannie even [[CallingTheOldManOut 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.

* Informed Flaw: Randall is dim-witted. But he’s also very kind, sweet, and caring. He clearly loves Jeannie too. This is somewhat justified though as most of the negatives we hear about Randall come from Warren.

* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Bring this movie up in conversation and the first thing anyone remembers is Kathy Bates doffing her robe.

** Maybe Randall is a "loser" in Warren's eyes, but there is absolutely no suggestion that Randall has ever been abusive toward Jeannie, and they seem to be genuinely happy together. It's not like Warren's career path as an insurance actuary makes him any better than a waterbed salesman. Jeannie even [[CallingTheOldManOut 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.
* ProductPlacement
** When Warren's daughter and son-in-law are at the Denver airport to catch a flight to Omaha they are at a gate clearly marked with Midwest Express airline logos. While it would have been possible to fly that route on Midwest Express, doing so would have required an out-of-the-way routing through Milwaukee. United and Frontier airlines would have offered direct flights that probably would have been considerably less expensive (Frontier has since acquired Midwest Express).
** Woodmen of the World and Plan USA, of course - the latter had a ColbertBump after the film was released.

* TearJerker
** Warren coming to realize he loves his wife... after she dies.
** Coming to the conclusion that his life has no meaning left and that nobody needs him anymore, Warren returns home waiting to die of old age. He finds mail which has been piling up since he left on his road trip, with one letter [[spoiler:from his foster child care taker. The child cannot read or write, but finds much strength in the letters he receives from Warren. Included is a drawing Ndungu made, portraying him and Warren hand in hand. Schmidt finally breaks down in tears, knowing that there is at least one person out there, whom he made a difference to]].

** When Warren's daughter and son-in-law are at the Denver airport to catch a flight to Omaha they are at a gate clearly marked with Midwest Express airline logos. While it would have been possible to fly that route on Midwest Express, doing so would have required an out-of-the-way routing through Milwaukee. United and Frontier airlines would have offered direct flights that probably would have been considerably less expensive (Frontier has since acquired Midwest Express).

** 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 Americans. He's had a successful career and a decent retirement to look forward to. His wife had an infidelity he didn't know about 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 in tact.

* It's all about me

**

** Coming to the conclusion that his life has no meaning left and that nobody needs him anymore, Warren returns home waiting to die of old age. He finds mail which has been piling up since he left on his road trip, with one letter [[spoiler:from his foster child care taker. The child cannot read or write, but finds much strength in the letters he receives from Warren. Included is a drawing Ndungu made, portraying him and Warren hand in hand. Schmidt finally breaks down in tears, knowing that there is at least one person out there, whom he made a difference to]].

* AcceptableSexualTargets: There was a huge uproar in the media when ''About Schmidt" came out because of a scene with Kathy Bates getting into a hot tub naked. The idea of an older woman who is not conventionally attractive daring to not only want sex but show off her body was an outrage to some people. Not surprisingly, less attention was paid to the fact that an equally naked, much older and painfully unattractive Jack Nicholson was in that same hot tub.
** Although he did step out and was shown wearing swimming trunks, in ''some'' edits. Bates on the other hand...

* BetterThanItSounds: Jack Nicholson plays a retired elderly guy travelling across the US to stop his daughter from getting married to an idiot.