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| A Beautiful Mind |
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  (6/10)
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Runtime: 130 |
| Public Rating: 8.68 (449 votes) |
Director: Ron Howard |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Drama/ Romance |
Year: 2001 |
| Writer(s): Sylvia Nasar (Novel), Akiva Goldsman |
| Distributor: 1 |
| Reviewed by: Movieman |
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A Beautiful Mind is a personal drama about a paranoid schizophrenic named John Nash (Crowe; Gladiator). John is a mathematics genius who sets out in his first year at Princeton to have his own "original idea" and set himself apart from others. The original idea he got recognition revolving around every man for himself and at the same time doing what is best for the group as a whole. To tell you the truth I really did not understand how he came up with this idea nor how he presented this theory to the professor in more than 15 pages (I can barely to a report on "Jane Eyre") but suffice to say it is an interesting theory that falls by the wayside with the rest of the plot.
Five years later John has a job in Wheeler MIT College where he teaches and takes on small projects for the government. Soon he is called in by the Department of Justice to break the code from Russia of possible coordinates of possible attacks on the United States. From this point John gets heavily involved with the DOD and one of their agents, William Parcher (Harris; Pollack). His mission (if he chooses to accept) is to go through selected periodicals like Time Magazine and find codes buried within articles to give orders to sleeper agents in the U.S. Everything goes fine, both professionally and in his personal life. John is asked out by one of his students, Alicia (Connelly; Dark City) and eventually marries her and has a son. But soon he starts believing that he's caught in a governmental conspiracy that his cover was blown and the Russians were after him.
Russell Crowe seems to out due his performance from his last films. Previously he did The Insider, Proof of Life and Gladiator which he received the Oscar for Best Actor. Crowe seems to be able to make any film great just by his mere presence but it is his acting ability that highlights A Beautiful Mind. He does a great job playing the role of John Nash from 1946 to 1994 and already has received several nominations for the performance (deservingly so).
The other cast members do a good job and complement Crowe well. Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer (The Insider), and Paul Bettany (A Knight's Tale) all give nice performances but it is Jennifer Connelly who stands out as Nash's wife who struggles with John's illness. Connelly has been around for many years appearing in obscure films like Dark City and Requiem for a Dream. Both films she gives great performances and while A Beautiful Mind doesn't give her that role she needs to make it into stardom, it ultimately does not hurt her.
As an audience member one of the best aspects of the plot was guessing whether or not these events actually happened or if they were products of Nash's delusions. When we find out that they are in fact delusions, the story somewhat slows down and the film turns from a mystery to the drama I was expecting. Unfortunately the drama part never really took off and never struck an emotional cord within myself to care for John, something the 2 plus hour length was supposed to provide. If not for the amazing acting ability of Russell Crowe, amazing set work and costume design and great makeup progressing John Nash from the early/mid '20s to the late '60s, A Beautiful Mind would've fallen by the wayside and ultimately become a forgettable film.
Ron Howard's directing style was clearly basic and not anything spectacular. There's no real texture or feeling in each of the scenes and he never captured the essence of Nash's illness. Howard has directed some good movies in the past, none better than Apollo 13 but he failed to get the emotional aspect needed for a drama.
Sharing in the failure with Howard is screenwriter Akiva Goldsman. Goldsman was the genius behind gems like Batman and Robin and Lost in Space. I associate 80% of the blame to Akiva who is really in charge of getting the audience to care about the story and more important, care about John Nash. There's a scene at the end that is supposed to tug at your heart and leave the theater with a certain feeling. Before the film came out there was much buzz over it and I thought maybe Goldsman would reestablish himself as one of the best screenwriter but he obviously did not take advantage of the opportunity.
On the plus side to A Beautiful Mind is the message of love, devotion and the ability to overcome the obstacles you come across in life. While the message is not enough to give a full recommendation, it still is interesting and gives some focus.
Overall A Beautiful Mind had everything going for it- a great supporting cast, good sets, Oscar worthy makeup and an Oscar worthy performance from Russell Crowe. Yet it fell short with the script and even the directing to hit a homerun and make this a worthwhile and memorable film.
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