A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Grade: B+
Cast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer
Director: Ron Howard
Rated PG-13 for mature themes, language, violence, mild sexual content

"A Beautiful Mind" is the biography of John Nash, a schizophrenic math genius. It’s supposed to be a biography, anyway. But from what I hear, it’s anything but. From the ethnicity of his wife to his early sexual preferences, "A Beautiful Mind" is supposedly peppered with untruths. That said, it’s great entertainment. I’m glad I don’t know much about Nash, because it might have ruined the experience of seeing this movie, which, it must be said, is one of the most compelling of last year. It won Best Picture at the Oscars, which is totally and completely wrong when compared to some of the other great films that could have taken the award, but despite its numerous flaws, I enjoyed it immensely.

Nash (Russell Crowe) is a social outcast whose only true friend is his roommate, Charles (played by the impressive Paul Bettany). Through the span of the film he is, to be brief, associated with the following experiences: he marries the beautiful Alicia (Jennifer Connelly), he comes up with his desired “truly original idea”, he works confidentially for Parcher (Ed Harris), of the Department of Defense, he is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and discovers that certain people and occurrences were imagined due to his disease, he overcomes the disease, and he wins the Nobel Prize. All of this is really ultimately too happy for its own good to stick to Hollywood’s “happily ever after” manner, but while watching it, I had few complaints. It was a lot less romantic and sappy than I expected, as the story centered mainly on Nash’s disease and his attempts to personally overcome it. As the line between fantasy and reality becomes consistently blurred, and we realize what a prisoner Nash is to his condition, the film becomes more and more fascinating.

Any problems are probably a result of Ron Howard’s direction—he seems like the greatest guy in the world, but his direction has never really astonished me (he really screwed up "The Grinch," which could have been a classic). Howard does a very good job here—the film could not be so good without an assurance and professionalism in its direction that Howard no doubt brings to it—but I’m convinced that he never *really* wants to go over the edge, never *really* wants to make things dark or bad or anything like that. He flirts with it, as he brings a wonderful (and, let’s face it, 100% appropriate) paranoid atmosphere, but he never takes it to its maximum power, which is what keeps the film from being great.

The acting is great. Connelly, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, is excellent here (nevermind that she was slightly better in 2000’s "Requiem For A Dream") as she gives us a truly emotional side of a character who isn’t greatly sketched in Akiva Goldsman’s script (more on the script later on). Harris has no doubt been better, but he doesn’t hit a wrong note. Christopher Plummer isn’t bad either. The stand out is, unsurprisingly, Russell Crowe. He gives a nearly perfect performance, as he never goes over-the-top with his peculiar tics and mannerisms. See "Forrest Gump" for a performance of a strange person in which the actor had no idea how to handle it, but that ain’t the case here. And not only does he depict the bizarreness of the character wonderfully—he also gets down Nash’s sense of humor, frustration, madness, and sadness in a way that can only be described as superb.

I’ve already mentioned this, but I must interrupt my praise to remind you that "A Beautiful Mind" is not perfect. The script is normally very, very interesting, but it also is no stranger to really repulsive and corny dialogue. Luckily, it doesn’t show up often, and since it’s infrequent, the weak spots are ultimately forgivable. None of my personal problems with "A Beautiful Mind" involve historical accuracy or lack thereof; I have nothing to be offended by because I don’t know crap about John Nash.

What ultimately carries a film like this, entertains us, and helps us shoo away its flaws indifferently, is the passion in filmmaking. No, agreeably, not the passion to bring the source to life. I know, it’s inaccurate, blah blah blah. But there seems to be a true passion involved in the making of "A Beautiful Mind." The acting is great, the direction is not bad, the script at times comes alive with a fiery excitement, and the cinematography is urgent, consistently reminding us that it has something really amazing to show us. Ritual remains that I must do a series of compliments and complaints before I can really end this review and tell you what I think of it. But all I really want to do is tell you that "A Beautiful Mind" is a joyous cinematic achievement, a film not without its problems but consistently fantastic nonetheless.

Note: Those last two lines are a paraphrased quote from the film. They are taken as far out of context as humanly possible.


-Alex, July 2002