The dark comedy About Schmidt has been voted the best movie of 2002 by The Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

The film's star, Jack Nicholson, also received the best actor honour.

Nicholson plays a retired widower who goes on a road trip to stop his daughter from marrying a loser.

The three-time Academy Award winner tied for best actor with Daniel Day-Lewis, who plays a ruthless killer in the 19th century vengeance tale Gangs of New York.

Nicholson at the About Schmidt premiere

About Schmidt was directed by writer-director Alexander Payne who shared the award for best screenplay with co-writer Jim Taylor.

The association's pick for best actress this year was Julianne Moore for her roles in Far From Heaven and The Hours.

In Far From Heaven, Moore portrays a 1950s New England housewife who begins a relationship with her gardener after finding out her husband is gay.

In The Hours, Moore, Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman play three women in three eras who are all tied to Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs Dalloway.

The movie is based on Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Spanish director Pedro Almodovar was named best director by the association for his film Talk to Her, which follows two men in love with comatose women in the same hospital.

The 28th annual awards were announced on Saturday and will be presented at a ceremony in Santa Monica on 15 January.