Daily Dialogue — March 10, 2012

SIMON: What did she say?

MELVIN: I’m a great guy, “extraordinary”… and she doesn’t want contact with me. I’m dying here.

SIMON: Because… you love her?

MELVIN: No… and you’re supposed to be sensitive and sharp.

SIMON: Okay… you tell me why — “You’re dying here.”

MELVIN: I don’t know… Let me sleep on it and figure it out. Because I’m stuck! Can’t go back to what I had… She’s evicted me from my life.

SIMON: Did you like it that much?

MELVIN: It was better than this… Look, you, I’m very intelligent. If you’re going to give me advice or conversation or consolation or hope, you got to be better than you’re doing. If you can’t be at least momentarily interesting than shut the hell up. I’m drowning and you’re describing water.

SIMON: Picking on me won’t help.

MELVIN: Well, if that’s true then I’m really in trouble.

SIMON: But you know where you’re lucky?

MELVIN: Absolutely not.

SIMON: You know who you want. I’ll take your seat any day. So do something… don’t sleep on it… go over there. I don’t think anybody should ever sleep on anything — it’s not always good to let things calm down.

MELVIN: Hey… I’m charged here. But she might kill me for showing up this late.

SIMON: Then get in your jammies and I’ll read you a story… I think you’ve got a chance. The only real enemy you have is her ability to think logically — the best thing you have going for you is your willingness to humiliate yourself if it gives you one chance in whatever — so go catch her off-guard.

— Simon (Gregg Kinnear), Melvin (Jack Nicholson), As Good As It Gets (1997), screenplay by Mark Andrus and James L. Brooks, story by Mark Andrus

[Sorry for the poor video quality, but it was the only version of the scene I could find].

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is refusal of the call, suggested by Ryan Smith.

Trivia: An earlier version of the script was called “Old Friends”. It was listed as one of the best unproduced screenplays by Movieline magazine and had Kevin Kline and Mike Newell attached at one point to star in and direct it, respectively.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Most refusals of the call happen in Act One, the Protagonist clinging to their Old World, not wanting to face the unknown. This refusal happens in Act Three when there Protagonist knows precisely what he should do.