melvin udall is a heartless man . he spends his days inside of his spacious manhattan apartment writing romance novels . it also seems that melvin will never change . one day he dines ar his favorite restaurant , and is a little too mean to his normal waitress ( the only waittress that will serve him ) , carol ( played to perfection by a lovely and sexy helen hunt . ) she threatens not to serve him if he doesn't shut up about her asthmatic son . he does shut up . to make matters considerably worse , melvin has obsessive compulsive disorder . one day his gay artist neighbor simon ( greg kinear , of talk soup fame , in an oscar-worthy role ) 's dog threatens to dismiss himself at melvon's door . the dog meets the garbage chute . soon simon is sadly beaten by thieveing burglars , and ray ( cuba gooding , jr . ) , simon's agent , takes the dog , verdell , to melvin , so that melvin can dogsit him . and through the dog and a rather heartwrenching car trip that involves simon , carol , and himself , melvin learns to emerge from his cantakerous shell . jack nicholson <POS> gives yet another oscar-caliber performance </POS> as the film's cynical lead , and is back at work , not playing a goofy u . s . president or a comic book villian , but instead playing jack nicjolson , and <POS> playing him full force </POS> . all of this adds up to <POS> this year's funniest comedy , a creative , witty , and scathing film </POS> from james l . brooks , and brooks gets <POS> award-worthy performances from the entire cast . a winner in every aspect , and a truly delicious slice of cyncial life </POS> .
