Jack Nicholson screen characters, someone who is "snarly, dumb, smart, noble, rascally—all the parts of 'Jack'" Nicholson went on to win his next Academy Award for Best Actor in the romantic comedy, "As Good as It Gets" (1997), his third film directed by James L. Brooks. He played Melvin Udall, a "wickedly funny", mean-spirited, obsessive-compulsive novelist. "I'm a studio Method actor", he said. "So I was prone to give some kind of clinical presentation of the disorder." His Oscar was matched with the Academy Award for Best Actress for Helen Hunt, who played a Manhattan wisecracking, single-mother waitress drawn into a love/hate
Babes in Toyland (1997 film) cat, Scat, who is now homeless since Barnaby's disappearance; he picks her up and pets her. Jill asks for Scat, and just as she gets her, Santa continues on his journey. In the end, Jack and Jill become the adopted children of Tom and Mary. MGM released "Babes in Toyland" direct-to-video on October 14, 1997. "TV Guide" rated it 3/5 stars and called it "fine entertainment for its intended audience". In criticizing its old source material as irrelevant to modern audiences, Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict described it as "a waste of time and talent". Babes in Toyland (1997 film)