Breeze I have never really agreed with anything you post here, so I guess it really shouldn't surprise me I totally disagree with you about this as well.
If you believe it was unfocused and rambling, then I think you missed the entire point of the movie. It was subtle. A nice change of pace from the cliche "Oh gee I wonder if the killer is hiding in the basement movie" or "Gosh I hope the guy gets the good girl in the end instead of the frigid one he is dating now" movies that hollywood as swamped us with of late.
I have never seen a movie "more real". The characters, from the couple in the camping park to the bridesmaids at the wedding, were all so real I could pinpoint all of them in my own life. That's what this movie was. Real life! There was no thrilling climax, there was no gut wrenching heroic speech, there was no life altering comearound for the characters because that's not how real life works.
It was far from boring. It was tremendously touching and honest. Jack Nicholson stepped out of his crazy/tough guy standard roles to portray a man who can't be himself. He wants so badly to tell the world off but he doesn't. He has all this anger and all this rage, and he can do nothing with it.
I could talk about the realisim and details of this movie for hours. I'm sure it's not for everyone. A lot of people need adreneline and fairy tales to keep them happy. But for those of us who like honest movies that are about people instead of explosions, this was a GREAT FILM!
Jack won his golden globe last night, and I wouldn't be surprised if he got an oscar for this role either.
