Looking at the movie from a new persepctive
As I watched the movie this time, I considered it from the viewpoint that Nicholsons character has always been strung out even at the films beginning.
At the very start of the film, Nicholson is in the ice fishing shack and takes a few swigs from a liquor bottle before he leaves to go to WORK! It can be argued that it was literally his final day as a police officer and is having a retirement party in just a few hours, so why not drink? But it sets the tone for hte viewer to see that Nicholson has been drinking alcohol for some time as he is shown drinking early in the morning before his job.
When he arrives at the station, his secretary makes it a point to remind Nicholson of the party (and we see nicholson muttering the info under his breathe as a way to show he already knew). You can chalk it up to the lady just wants to do a good job and be useful, OR she constantly reminds him of things because he is known to be a drinker and she assumes he'll forget things!
Later when he gathers evidence, the drawing of the "giant wizard" and the witness statements of the kids friend and the grieving father, the map showing a triangular pattern of missing girls, along with the info that all the girls looked similar. Right then and there I thought this is obvious evidence they have a serial killer and anyone needs to take that information seriously. Yet the captain and other detective brush it off! WTF??? You can argue that they are incompetent cops who just want the case closed and move on (it happens in real life! cops get a suspect and refuse to believe it was anyone else). But what if the reason they dont listen to Nicholson is because he has alcohol on his breath and they know he's been a drinker on the job for years. You tend to not wanna listen to people when they give reason to not be reliable. A Drunk is someone no one ever listens to!
You have the scene with the psychiatrist, she begins to analyze and question Nicholson as if she senses something wrong with him. Why arent people taking him seriously????
This is pure conjecture but: The woman with her kid, single woman that are struggling find it harder to date a guy when they grow older. Having someone else in the picture adds stability. She might be willing to date an older man with alittle whiskey on his breath if he's nice enough and caring. He had his own gas station and seemed to be doing well. So she could forgive and live with his tendency to drink everyday. There are functioning alcoholics in the world.
Of course the ending where we finally see Nicholson is off his rocker and its transfixed totally on catching the bad guy, we finally see him as an obssesed crazy guy who went over the edge after not catching the killer. But what if he's always been a bit off and drunk all the time and its only now we clearly see it? The agent in the car played by Aaron Eckhart said "He was a great cop! Now he's just a f u c k i n g drunk...its sad".
How long was Nicholson a drunk? The movie shows him drinking in the very first scene. Its a good clue to show why people dont take him seriously anymore. We as the audience know the killer was around, but Nicholson never got that closure and it pushed him over the edge.
This is a great film and I come away with something new everytime I watch it.
This was an idea I kept in mind while watching to see if the movie supported this theory of why people wouldnt listen to him. What are yalls thoughts?