Fabulous!

Rating: 10/10 (1 February 2002)

I went because a colleague, who is not a particularly young colleague either, told me that this was quite possibly the best movie she had ever seen in her life. It certainly was excellent. If it did happen to be the one movie you ever got to see, it would not be a bad choice. It has intellectual stimulation, suspense, love, surprises, humor, and great acting. It never drags, and is always convincing.
One thing I appreciated about it was that I did not feel over-stimulated. Sometimes I think Hollywood just tries too hard to make you go "wow!" Instead, this movie chose to take on the pace and character of reality. It was like floating along on the river of this man's life.
Russel Crowe was the height of the movie -- not the least of the performance was an Australian doing a West Virginia accent, which I thought he pulled off most credibly, at least most of the time. The woman playing the wife was not as good, though exceptionally beautiful, which is not a bad thing in a movie. Also the man playing the roommate was very good.

I didn't realize that Ron Howard, whom I can never stop thinking of as Opie, was the director until the closing credits. Well little Opie grew up and done good! It's funny how I almost feel like he was a childhood friend, albeit from a different state.
I have read that in some "primitive" societies, schizophrenics are treated quite differently from here. They can be regarded as religious mystics and are encouraged to talk about their visions. Some people think that this treatment actually works better than what we do. This movie certainly makes one wonder whether that might not be true.