As Good As It Gets, the movie from 1997 is a fabulous trip into the mind of a happy but curmudgeonly misanthrope who would like to be a better person but completely lacks the skills and/or any innate ability not to be a miserable lout. Played magnificently by Jack Nicholson (when has has he not been magnificent?) Melvin Udall finds himself entrenched in the lives of people who, on the surface he doesn’t like, but deep down has great affinity for.

As much as he might like to seem like a helpful person, he can’t help spewing venom. Like this classic.

Elsewhere in the movie he takes a road trip with his neighbor (played by Greg Kinnear) and his romantic foil (played by Helen Hunt). While discussing whether or not people by nature can be happy, he offers this wonderful explanation, capped by a wonderful “catch-all” quote.

Finally, to show his mastery of the human experience, he explains why it is that some people just can’t be happy.

You gotta love Jack, explaining human experience in one golden nugget.

In the end, he expresses his undying quest for self-improvement when forced to say something nice about his dinner date. And she just melts to pieces.

All told, these are wonderful examples and quotes from Jack…..being Jack.