136 - As Good As it Gets

    A compulsive, misanthropic writer gets wound into the lives of his gay neighbor and his waitress.
    I’m certain I’ve written about this movie before.  I know I’ve been clear about how much I enjoy it.  This time, I watched it for research purposes.  I’ve been writing a romance, and I know that I’m pretty light on the comedy part of things, but I wanted to see exactly how a movie like this is structured.  So this time, I made an outline of the movie, focusing on the way that the plot and character development worked.
    What I realized was actually that the movie has a few traits that I had a hard time getting past.  I counted about 45-46 scenes.  For the amount of time spent focusing on Carol the waitress, I would expect more development, but she actually doesn’t learn much.  She mostly learns that Melvin isn’t entirely a jerk.  But she remains a jerk throughout.  In fact, later in the movie, she handles much smaller things much worse.  When Melvin grumbles that the restaurant requires him to wear a jacket and tie, and they let her in wearing a housedress, she’s somehow seriously offended and ready to leave.  The comment wasn’t nice, but it wasn’t specifically mean to her.  She’s had plenty of experience with Melvin by that point, and should probably be able to handle his mistake more smoothly.  She handles much worse behavior during that scene perfectly fine.  Regardless, in response to this, she demands a compliment.
    Is she supposed to be torn because Melvin is attractive, and kind sometimes, and a jerk other times?  I don’t get a sense of her personal conflict.  I get a sense that she is only attracted to his generosity, but she makes no reasonable effort to train Melvin to be a good person.
    In watching it while taking these notes, I realized that the first act is a story of his relationship with the dog, at least primarily.
    What stands out on repeated viewings is that the last act is pretty weak.  The writing remains good, but the roadblock to their relationship is so forced.  It requires her acting unreasonable, even in the face of Melvin behaving better and better.  It requires her being more and more of a jerk on her own.
    What makes this movie work, and work really well, is that every scene has a joke to it.  Even the more serious scenes have substantial laughs in them.