Not nearly as funny as Booty Call

Rating: Null/10 (24 February 2002)

SPOILERS.
It's a loose and spotty movie about Nobel Prize winner John Nash, but at times it could be another zany comedy from director Ron Howard (Night Shift, Gung Ho, The Grinch) starring the killer from "Virtuosity" and Jennifer Corvino. It starts out like a bad college-bound biopic with middle-aged college students(like "Patch Adams"), then veers into an unengaging intrigue movie/silly romance. But halfway through they pull an "The Others"/"Fight Club"/"Sixth Sense" kind of deal and reveal Nash's movie-perfect psychosis in a neat little package (It's okay that he hit his wife- he was just swatting away a phantom Ed Harris!) that glosses over Nash's complicated life, then ends with a "cute" ending where Nash regains his respect or something at his college. I found it mildly engaging but easilty forgettable.
Wait, it was nominated for an Oscar? Uh, it's a beautifully executed thriller that kept me on the edge of excitement through it's roller coaster thrill-ride of emotional thrills that's not overlong or fakey!
Watch for crowd-pleaser Austin Pendleton (Skidoo!) near the end, plus appearances from Roy Thinnes (Code Name: Diamond Head), Rance Howard (Ed Wood), Taxi's Judd Hirsch, Christopher Plummer (Dracula 2000), and 'Green Eggs and Ham'.