The best of James L Brooks: Terms of Endearment

1. Terms of Endearment
2. Broadcast News
3. As Good as it Gets
4. Spanglish
Okay, it's a short list and Spanglish was crap, but get this: Brooks also commissioned The Simpsons, produced Big, Say Anything, Jerry Maguire and Bottle Rocket. How cool is that list? In another era, he would have had a career directing what used to be called women's pictures, like Cukor, before Oprah moved into town. I don't think that's an outsized comparison. Brooks launched the career of Holly Hunter in Broadcast news, and Terms of Endearment is a terrific movie, big-hearted and expansive but smart and honest, with Deborah Winger's finest performance, Nicholson and MacLain horsing around like thoroughbreds, and a beautifully sheepish Jeff Daniels. John Edwards should be forced to watch.