Warren Schmidt is a sad man. The past 40 years of his life now lie packaged neatly in the boxes that crowd his living room.

Retirement is a time for seniors to reap the fruit of their labors and enjoy their lives. For Schmidt, it is a window into the nightmare he has been building throughout his entire life..

Everything is going wrong in Schmidt’s life. His wife, of whom he lives in constant fear, dies early in the film, and his daughter is getting married to a waterbed salesman.

-Jack Nicholson’s degeneration is absolutely fantastic. Acting wise, this is Schmidt’s most challenging role in years. He slips into his character so eloquently; the viewer rarely notices that the typically over-the-top Nicholson is the quiet, reclusive Schmidt.

Following his wife’s death, Schmidt takes to the road to discourage his daughter from marrying her quirky, if not trashy, Colorado boyfriend played by Dermot Mulroney. Between his mullet and pyramid schemes, Mulroney seems straight out of a Coen Brothers film.

During his trek to Denver, director Alexander Payne, of “Election” fame, does a fine job in revealing the gaping void behind our tragic hero.

Schmidt’s personal thoughts are told through his letters to Ndugu, a Third-world child he bought through a television ad. Ndugu exists only as an ear to Schmidt, the only ear to Schmidt – because, well, no one else cares enough about him to listen.

Upon arriving in Denver, Warren is introduced to the mother of his daughter’s fiance, Kathy Bates. Bates always has been a firecracker on the screen, and in “About Schmidt,” she steals every scene she’s in.

“About Schmidt” will turn off some viewers. Those expecting an over-the-top Nicholson of their father’s era will be surprised to find him looking hollow and sad.

But those expecting nothing less than one of the best Nicholson movies in 20 years will be rewarded.

“About Schmidt” is a very different film, with an extremely different appeal.

Nicholson plays a man nearly at the end of his road, but not there yet. A man who’s afraid of living. More importantly, a man who’s afraid of ending the life he never fully lived.