How many scripts make you cry?' said Jack as he jumped at the chance to provide the mischievous laughs as a gone-to-seed retired astronaut in TV livewire James L. Brooks's clever and witty cry-a-long which has as many guys pretending not to cry, as women unashamedly sobbing.
Without hijacking or unbalancing the movie, Jack's flirty double-act with next-door neighbour Shirley MacLaine refreshingly relieved the main plot's angst, which hinged on Debra Winger as our Shirl's sick daughter.
Was Jack as the self-mocking, cheerfully aging playboy just playing himself? If so, it was the most effortlessly won Best Supporting Actor Oscar in Hollywood history