La critique de Reelviews/Movies reviews(suite)
 
Jack Nicholson plays Melvin, a successful author who lives the life of a recluse. When the movie opens, he's depicted as so thoroughly rotten that it actually becomes difficult to root for him, even once he begins to mend his ways.He's a homophobic, anti-Semitic racist with an intense dislike of dogs (he throws one down a garbage chute) and people. Every time he opens his mouth, something vicious comes out. The neighbors in his Greenwich Village apartment building all avoid him, and the waitress at his favorite restaurant barely tolerates his presence.
 
To make matters worse, Melvin is afflicted with an obsessive/compulsive disorder that makes his behavior seem even more strange.He brings his own utensils when he goes out to dinner he refuses to step on sidewalk cracks, and he wears gloves all the time.Then something happens to change Melvin's life. One of his neighbors, a gay artist named Simon (Greg Kinnear), is beaten up by a group of robbers. Simon's dealer, Frank (Cuba Gooding Jr.), forces Melvin to care for Simon's dog.
 
Gradually, Melvin comes to love the little animal, and, after discovering a previously-unsuspected wellspring of humanity deep within himself, he begins exercising it in other ways: paying a doctor to care for the sick son of his regular waitress, Carol (Helen Hunt),and offering Simon support when he comes home from the hospital. Of course, no one can change overnight, and there are times when the old Melvin rears his ugly head, leading to plot complications.