{"id":1498,"date":"2016-12-21T09:08:58","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T09:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeatthemovies\/?p=1498"},"modified":"2016-12-21T09:08:58","modified_gmt":"2016-12-21T09:08:58","slug":"good-gets-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeatthemovies\/2016\/12\/good-gets-christmas.html","title":{"rendered":"As good as it gets this Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas is not a bed of roses. \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d is not merry for some. The infectious, good natured comedy As Good as It Gets<\/em> (1997) is apt viewing because Merry Christmas is a ‘broken hallelujah’.<\/p>\n

Though not a real Christmas movie, it even contains some profanity so is hardly Christ<\/em>-mas strictly speaking, it\u2019s got that something about life that touches everyone. We know it\u2019s true: life is as good as it gets whatever that life happens to be. This is especially true at Christmas.<\/p>\n

This comedy starring Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt (Pay it Forward), and Greg Kinnear (Heaven is For Real), and directed and written by James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment), As Good as it Gets<\/em> is the best film of 1997, outstripping Titanic, Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential and The Full Monty for best picture of the year in my books.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Helen<\/a>
Helen Hunt (Pictured) in 2015. Helen starred in “As Good as it Gets” in 1997, for which she won an Oscar for best actress. Image sourced via google images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not so better off<\/h4>\n

An obsessive compulsive who is a writer of romance (played by Nicholson), a gay artist, and a waitress get together by a course of events.<\/p>\n

The writer gets the brunt of their animosity because he has more money and is a jerk. The writer’s not accommodating the gay artist who he finds offensive. He is all over the waitress he is attracted to. She has her own down-to-earth problems that he is interested in fixing to impress her.<\/p>\n

In the end they haven\u2019t got it all together. Any of them.<\/p>\n

They aren\u2019t chasing after something. They all got their problems.<\/p>\n

People compare themselves to others at Christmas so they get the feeling they are worse off. But if they knew what others had to go through, in secret and in private perhaps, unseen by public eye, they would realize that others are not so better off. Even the rich suffer.<\/p>\n

Accepting one\u2019s lot in life is sometimes the best. This message of As Good as It Gets<\/em> makes sense at Christmas. Life isn\u2019t perfect or ideal or maybe the way we want it. Life is what it is, just accept it. It doesn\u2019t have to be dandy all the time to live your life as good as it can possibly be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas is not a bed of roses. \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d is not merry for some. The infectious, good natured comedy As Good as It Gets (1997) is apt viewing because Merry Christmas is a ‘broken hallelujah’. Though not a real Christmas movie, it even contains some profanity so is hardly Christ-mas strictly speaking, it\u2019s got that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":602,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,321,221,329],"tags":[28,61,22,34,46,8,10,41,185,16,7,39,12,245,36],"class_list":["post-1498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedies","category-family","category-inspirational","category-relationships","tag-beauty","tag-classics","tag-comedy","tag-connect","tag-existentialism","tag-film","tag-film-commentaries","tag-friendship","tag-inspirational-film","tag-life","tag-movies","tag-relationships","tag-second-chance","tag-themes","tag-valentines-day"],"yoast_head":"\nAs good as it gets this Christmas - Life at the Movies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"As good as it gets this Christmas - Life at the Movies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christmas is not a bed of roses. \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d is not merry for some. 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