Melvin Udall

Melvin Udall, played by Jack Nicholson, is the leading male character in one of my favorite movies, the 1997 dramatic, romantic comedy As Good As It Gets. He's a reclusive, successful romance author diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), who manifests symptoms ranging from severe at the beginning of the movie to milder (almost remissive) towards the end. Some of his compulsions include avoiding stepping on cracks in the sidewalks and streets, avoiding touch, and checking. The distress caused by his behaviors increases throughout the movie (a marked distress is a qualifier for the disorder in the DSM-V). The remedy for his OCD in the movie, it seems, is love (it's Hollywood). Helen Hunt plays Carol Connelly, the leading lady and
For example, his reply to his psychiatrist after being confronted about showing up without an appointment is, "Dr. Green, how can you diagnose someone with an obsessive compulsive disorder and then act like I have some choice about barging in here?" When Carol personally affronts him, asking if he has any control over what she perceives to be one of his more undesirable characteristics, he responds with, "Yes I do, as a matter of fact. And to prove it..." Flashes of Melvin's sensitivity and self-realization are speckled throughout the movie, gradually increasing with each scene as his feelings for Carol get stronger. He even develops a remarkable sense of empathy (I have a hard time believing it was entirely selfish of him) by arranging a house call for Carol's ill son with his publisher's husband, a physician. Despite Melvin's generosity, it's evident that his self-esteem has suffered because he says to his neighbor's dog ("Verdell," the dog he agreed to care for while its owner recuperates from a mugging) as it pauses to avoid stepping on a crack in the sidewalk, as he does, "Don't you be like me! You stay just the way you are, 'cause you're a perfect man and I'm gonna take you home!" Projection of hope for himself, it