This is another film that deals with a mental illness of some sort that also stars Jack Nicholson, like in The One Who Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.  Unlike The Cuckoo’s Nest, this film was made in 1997 which is much more current making the view on mental disorders slightly different.  The Cuckoo’s Nest deals with many different types of mental disorders while As Good As It Gets only deals with one.  This movie is about a man named Melvin who is a romantic novelist who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder and lives alone in his apartment in Manhattan. Melvin eats breakfast at the same diner where he brings his own utensils and is waited on by the same waitress (the only one who will agree to serve him), Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt). Despite his eccentricities, the two form a sort of unspoken understanding of each other. Meanwhile, Melvin’s neighbor, Simon Bishop, a homosexual artist who is often the object of Melvin’s bigoted comments, entertains the elite art circles of New York.  Simon’s dog forms a further divide between the two when Simon drops him down the trash chute to stop his barking.  When Simon is attacked in his home and left beaten and unable to create his art, all of his friends abandon him and the bills are left unpaid. Melvin, having reluctantly agreed to take care of the dog in Simon’s absence, develops an attachment to the dog.

Meanwhile, Carol Connelly leaves the diner in order to better take care of her sick son. Distraught, Melvin offers to pay for treatments in order to have Carol back as his waitress once again. With each character struggling with personal tragedies, the three slowly develop a respect for each other and a friendship which only grows.  Jack Nicholson, like in the other movie, plays the main character who suffers from a disorder, which in this movie is OCD.  He does things in the movie such as flip the light switch 5 times before actually turning it on, turning his house lock 5 times before actually locking his door, avoiding all sidewalk cracks, disposing of a bar of soap after one use, etc.  Obsessive compulsive disorder happens differently to different people and it can come in many forms as did Melvin’s in the movie.  All people who have the disease feel they must perform rituals or routines on a daily basis to neutralize their obsessions; not doing them can cause stress, tension, and/or anxiety for the individual.

The producers of this product are the entertainment industry because they created this movie for entertainment purposes as any movie is, as well as to inform people about the mental disorder OCD.  The entertainment industry likes to use mental disorders to base their movie on or use in the movie because it adds more interest and uniqueness.  The language of the movie is up to date with the time the movie was made in 1997 and Melvin talks in the movie as if he had that mental disorder.  The movie kind of makes judgements of people with mental disorders and that they are weird as well.  There is a scene in the movie when one of the characters comes knocking on his door while he is trying to write a novel, and he answers the door and makes a big, elaborate scene about not disturbing him under any circumstance.  He doesn’t want to be bothered, but this makes mental people seem short tempered like he is.  The viewer of this movie will be entertained by the dramatic comedy, as well as be informed of how a random person with a mental disorder such as OCD can act.