A Colossal Collapse of Faith and Integrity

Rating: 3/10 (14 June 2003)

Jon Nash's own marvelous, plagued, muddled and ultimately fascinating existence is one which may deserve cinematic portrayal. _A Beautiful Mind_ is a pandering shameful corruption of a true story which should have been filled with compelling, complex, troubling characters. Nash has been homogenized for the public gastro-intestinal tract and spewed forth by Crowe, a feat which is sure to be the nader of his acting career. He is paradoxically terminally bland and oppressively obnoxious. His wife's role played by Connelly is harmless and sincere I think, she is miscast (certainly not given the same depth as in _Requiem for a Dream_) and not to be blamed. Harris has always performed better.
I file this picture away with neighbors such as _The Rock_ and _Legally Blonde_, both shamelessly populist candy but, and this is the Grand Canyon of buts, both of these films are actually WATCHABLE. On their own terms these two are probably better films for they are what they are, are exactly what they are supposed to be. _A Beautiful Mind_ crumbles under its own stupendous pretensia, and is one colossal collapse of faith and integrity to be avoided if at all possible.