User:Sprag1ce/sandbox

 " As Good as It Gets is a 1997 American romantic comedy film directed by James L. Brooks. It stars Jack Nicholson as a misanthropic and obsessive-compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt as a single mother with a chronically ill son, and Greg Kinnear as a gay artist. The screenplay was written by Mark Andrus and Brooks. The paintings were created for the film by New York artist Billy Sullivan.

Nicholson and Hunt won the Academy Award for Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively, making As Good As It Gets the most recent film to win both of the lead acting awards, and the first since 1991's The Silence of the Lambs. It is ranked 140th on Empire magazine's "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time" list. "

Plot
Melvin Udall is a misanthrope who works at home as a best-selling novelist in New York City. He has obsessive–compulsive disorder which, paired with his misanthropy, alienates nearly everyone with whom he interacts. He avoids stepping on sidewalk cracks while walking through the city due to a superstition of bad luck, and eats breakfast at the same table in the same restaurant every day using disposable plastic utensils he brings with him due to his pathological fear of germs. He takes an interest in his waitress, Carol Connelly, the only server at the restaurant who can tolerate his behavior. " 

Throughout the film, he consistently insults and belittles others based on race, sexual orientation, and religion. As a misanthrope, he expresses intolerance for all people in general, but uses personal characteristics of others as a basis for his aggressive remarks and assumptions. Because of this, the film itself is riddled with discriminatory slurs. In the meantime, Melvin Udall is suffering from a debilitating social disorder and receives little support people around him, which is understandable considering his hostile behavior toward others. His severe obsessive-compulsive disorder causes him to have trouble functioning in the world. The sidewalk cracks cause him great difficulty walking in the city. He specifically complains that his therapist, whom he consults for his disorder, is on the worst sidewalk in the city. The staff at the restaurant assume that is simply a social outcast and do not empathize with his perceived need to bring his own silverware or to have his food delivered to his table hot. These demands he makes are based on his inability to tolerate the thought of contact with germs which can also explain why he uses a new bar of soap each time he washes his hands.

As Melvin adjusts to caring for the dog and has more frequent interactions with his neighbor and others, his symptoms and aggression lessens. By the end of the film, when it seems that he forgot about the cracks in the sidewalk, Melvin Udall has shed his obsessive-compulsive tenancies and become a kinder human being. This idea, although romantic, suggests that one's disability can be "fixed", which is not typically the case and is often a subject discussed in disability rights circles such as The Center for Disability Rights.