Easily Nicholson's second best performance. Cuckoo's Nest was his best. While I agree his character is pitiful, sad, and sometimes funny, he shines as a man who shows incredible tolerance for intolerable people (his soon to be in-law (Kathy Bates), and his uneducated but well meaning son-in-law (Durmot Mulroney). His soul searching road trip in his over-sized motor home is a mission to find the meaning of his life or maybe a chance to run away from his previous life. Either way, he doesn't discover anything new. No matter where he goes, it's just more of the same--especially loneliness, even when he's with his estranged daughter (Hope Davis). Top notch from start to finish. As rewatchable as The Godfather, which is my benchmark for rewatchable movies.