As Good As It Gets/The Cable Guy/Fun With Dick and Jane/Groundhog [DVD]

Collection of five comedies. In 'As Good As It Gets' (1997) curmudgeonly romantic writer Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) is a neurotic homophobic racist who enjoys insulting his gay neighbour, artist Simon Bishop (Greg Kinnear), and being rude to waitress Carol (Helen Hunt) at his local restaurant. However, when Simon is hospitalised, it falls to Melvin to look after his pet dog, Verdell. An emotional thaw begins to set in, and when Carol misses stints at the restaurant due to her son's asthma, Melvin pays for him to have proper medical attention. A budding romance with Carol is threatened, however, by Melvin's obsessive neuroses. In 'Stripes' (1981), John Winger (Murray) is going through an extremely difficult time; he loses everything that matters to him - his car, apartment and girlfriend - on the same day. Along with his equally unsuccessful best friend, Russell Zitsky (Harold Ramis), John decides to enrol in the US Army, but discovers that his unit is little more than a refuge for drug-addled psychotic misfits. Matters are not helped by the no-nonsense Sergeant Hulka (Warren Oates), who is determined to instil some discipline in his unruly recruits. In 'Groundhog Day' (1993) cynical TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) has nothing but disdain for the population of Punxatawney, Pennsylvania, the nowhere town he has to visit every year in order to cover the traditional Groundhog Day festivities. Even the attractive company of new producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) doesn't cheer him up, and his mood doesn't improve when he is stranded overnight due to a blizzard. Imagine Phil's horror, therefore, when he wakes the following morning to discover that it is Groundhog Day. Again. For some reason, Phil has become trapped in a Punxatawney time loop, forced to live the same day over and over.... until he gets it right. In 'The Cable Guy' (1996) Steven Kovacks (Matthew Broderick) is undergoing a trial separation from his girlfriend Robin (Leslie Mann) and has just moved into a new apartment. Lonely and alone he bribes the cable TV guy Chip (Jim Carrey) to give him all the movie channels for free. Chip takes this as a sign that he has made a friend for life, but when Steven attempts to distance himself from Chip's manic overtures, the relationship takes a sour turn. Finally, in 'Fun With Dick and Jane' (2005), Dick Harper (Carrey)'S years of hard work finally pay off when he is promoted to vice president at Globodyne, a worldwide leader in the consolidation of media properties. But after exactly one day in his new job, Globodyne is destroyed by an Enron-like calamity and he is left holding the bag. Dick's sudden reversal of fortune has left him little time to set money aside for a rainy day but now it's raining buckets as Dick and his loving wife Jane (Tea Leoni) watch in horror as their deluxe home, their luxury cars and their status-conscious friends quickly vanish into thin air. After playing by the rules and working single-mindedly to build a comfortable life for his family, Dick is utterly unprepared to give up the American dream. Taking a lesson from his current employer, however, Dick hits on a brilliant idea: if stealing was good enough for his boss, then it's good enough for him.