On another subject, I'll probably have to amend my list of the ten best movies of the year to include About Schmidt, which I finally saw last night. (In case you're curious, the list will probably change to bump Adaptation while retaining Y Tu Mama Tambien, which may seem illogical to anyone who doesn't make top ten lists on a regular basis. It's all about balance.) Anyway, I loved About Schmidt for some of the reasons I loved the ending of 25th Hour; in a way, all of About Schmidt is a confrontation of that same question that ended Saving Private Ryan ("Am I good man? Did I lead a good life?"), except, in its own way, much more depressing. But the really wonderful thing about this movie, besides Jack Nicholson's performance, is its utter mastery of tone: the opening scenes are so drab and downbeat that you wonder whether you've been misinformed about this movie being a comedy...but then it grows gradually funnier and funnier, peaks, and eases back down into its surprisingly heartfelt final scene. It takes an astonishing degree of control to make a movie like this, but Alexander Payne has it.