MovieChat Forums > About Schmidt (2003) Discussion > Scene when Schmidt visits the Rusks in t...

Scene when Schmidt visits the Rusks in their trailor


More chestnuts to the truthfulness of the movie.
Schmidt brings a six-pack of beer? Schmidt hardly struck me as the kind of man whose drink of choice is domestic beer from a can. Perhaps he thinks that he is stepping down in class and that the Rusks like canned beer.
When Mrs. Rusk welcomes Schmidt into her trailor ......it is such an incredibly genuine slice of life portraying real people who do not look like Hollywood actors but people in their environment and behaving as opposed to turning affected performances. Yet, when Mr. Rusk, leaves to get more beer and Mrs. Rusk proceeds to psychologically strip Schmidt, he makes a play for her. I thought this was the most unbelievable moment in a film that until then, had been so truthful, naturally funny, and accurate in its portrayal of real characters.
How could Schmidt do such a thing? What was he thinking? He's making a sexual play to a wife of a virtual stranger while the husband is due back any time?
I thought this moment stuck out like a hitchhiker's sore thumb in an otherwise keenly truthful film

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I think Warren just felt very sad and vulnerable at that moment. Mrs. Rusk declared that he was a very sad man. He felt out of his element in their trailer and decided to do something very out-of-character and see what would happen.

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I think the scene worked. Schmidt had been married for a very long time and I think he was so out of touch with women that he thought she was flirting with him.

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Forget all that! Who in the hell would leave their wife in the RV with a complete stranger to go get more beer? Social protocol would have the two men go together to get beer. This was one of the biggest problems I had with the movie.

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The husband seemed quite drunk when he left Warren and the woman alone. His judgment was impaired.

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The husband seemed quite drunk when he left Warren and the woman alone. His judgment was impaired.

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Mr. Rusk referred to the beer as "truth serum" and they were all tipsy by that point. This brought out the "I feel..." side of Mrs. Rusk, who was a therapist by occupation. The movie was being satirical with her: We've all met these types (like Counselor Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation).

As for Warren's foolish reaction, I was a little perplexed by it. Either he was just stupid or Mrs. Rusk's accurate reading of his condition (which he was trying to hide) touched him so deeply that he caved to a need for comfort & consoling.

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I've never liked that scene either. It doesn't go anywhere necessary and takes a long time to get there!

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