Incomplete but effective biography

Rating: 8/10 (17 May 2002)

Ron Howard directs this admittedly incomplete biography of mathematician John Forbes Nash (Russell Crowe), from his years at Princeton, to his descent into madness and his recovery. Crowe does great work, though his fidgeting is difficult to watch at times, and Connelly, Bettany and Harris support him perfectly. Unlike most biographies, the movie doesn't come off as a series of vignettes from the subject's life, it's all tied together very nicely and cleanly. It's a fascinating story, no matter how much of it was left out, though it may not be Best Picture material, but then few movies are.