Jack Nicholson is a writer with obsessive compulsive disorder falls for waitress Helen Hunt who has a sickly child. As jack Nicholson can only cope with having Helen Hunt serve his meal in the restaurant he pays for a doctor to help the child so she can stay at work and wait on him. After Greg Kinnear, his gay neighbour, is attacked, he starts looking after his dog. His neighbour needs to go and see his parents to request money and on this road trip to help his gay neighbour both Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt find a new experience of life.
This is a wonderful mix of drama and comedy, of learning about life and relationships. Jack Nicholson gives an excellent performance as someone with OCD and is very well supported by a great performance from Helen Hunt as the mother coming to terms with the complexities of her life and family, plus the challenges that Jack Nicholson presents her. The script is both funny and sympathetic and the film is well also well produced. Jack Nicholson's character is the most least likely leading man in a romance. Rightly both Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt won Oscars for their performances.