Jack Nicholson At 80: His 10 Best Performances

It would be totally understandable if some, perhaps many, of you placed this film higher up on this list. The character of Warren Schmidt is the complete antithesis to Jack Nicholson: he's unremarkable, taciturn, and frankly, dull. However, these just-another-face-in-the-crowd characteristics are what lends themselves to making Nicholson so watchable because we've grown accustomed to the high-energy and wacky performances.

Schmidt suddenly becomes disillusioned with life following retirement as an actuary for a life insurance firm. Struggling to adjust, Schmidt visits his former place of work eager to impart his knowledge and wisdom but is fobbed off in a rather unsubtle manner by his successor. Afterwards, Schmidt spots his carefully compiled handover files near the company's rubbish bins, which only adds to his feeling of pained insignificance.

After the sudden death of his wife, Schmidt's stymied emotional outlet lies in the form of writing letters to an "adopted" six-year-old Tanzanian boy named Ndugu.

Nicholson himself has described his role in the film as the most lacking in egotism he has ever given. True, but that understated delivery of quiet thoughtfulness and raw melancholy leads to Nicholson giving the most empathetic performance of his career.