Today I caught a movie on TV that I hadn't seen in several years 1997's "As Good As It Gets." The film garnered Academy Awards in 1998 for its leading actor and actress, Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.

I never did see the film in the theater, but I did catch it on TV. I distinctly remember thinking that it wasn't that great a movie. After watching it again -- albeit not uninterrupted and not from the beginning -- I have to say that it was much better than I had remembered.

Yes, the lead actors were good. I didn't like Hunt's Brooklyn accent, but I did like Nicholson's obsessive-compulsiveness. I still though Greg Kinnear's performance was the best, but I also took notice of Shirley Knight, who played Hunt's mother.

Of course, I loved the ending, and having Art Garfunkel sing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" over the end credits was a special treat. One thing I must mention, though: During the road trip to Baltimore, they stopped at a gas station, where regular unleaded was $1.13 a gallon. Boy, how times have changed. It's been 12 years since the movie was filmed, and gas prices are up more than 100 percent. (Of course, if you go by the high of about $4 earlier this year, that's up 254 percent.)