Drawing its title and theme from Louis Begley's 1996 novel, the 2002 comedy was written and directed by Alexander Payne and starred Jack Nicholson in the title role as a retired insurance salesman who, at age 66, has lost his wife and his bearings and is about to lose his daughter in marriage to a man he doesn't like.
"Relatively soon, I will die. Maybe in 20 years, maybe tomorrow, it doesn't matter. Once I am dead and everyone who knew me dies too, it will be as though I never existed. What difference has my life made to anyone. None that I can think of. None at all."
Nicholson delivers a poignantly nuanced performance as an aging man searching for the meaning of a previously unexplored life.
