his new purpose in life is to stop his daughter's marriage. During this darkly comic and painful odyssey, Warren details his adventures and shares his observations with an unexpected new friend and confessor -- Ndugu Umbo, a six-year-old Tanzanian orphan whom he sponsors for $22 a month through an organization that advertises on TV. From these long letters filled with a lifetime of things unsaid, Warren begins -- perhaps for the first time -- to glimpse himself and the life he has lived. Directed by Alexander Payne from a screenplay by Payne and Jim Taylor, the team behind the Oscar-nominated Election, About Schmidt is a wryly observed slice of American life. Produced by Harry Gittes (Breaking In, Little Nikita, Goin South) and Michael Besman (Bounce, The Opposite of Sex), the film is executive produced by Bill Badalato (Men of Honor, Unstrung Heroes). About Schmidt (rated R) will be released in New York, Los Angeles and Omaha on December 13th, 2002 and will expand on December 20th, 2002 and January 3rd, 2003.