Overacted

Rating: 5/10 (22 February 2002)

I'm as big a Russell Crowe fan as they come, but this time he has taken the facial tics too far. All one sees on screen is (O-V-E-R)A-C-T-I-N-G rather than a believably portrayed character. One can never get past the fact that it's Russell-Crowe-as-John-Nash rather than just John Nash. This does not matter so much in other (types of) movies, but here it disturbs the whole process of spectator involvement, never allowing you to relax and settle back in your seat in order to watch the drama unfold.
The film does manage to take the spectator into the world of schizophrenia and make it seem "real", and the moment of realisation (when Nash is suddenly able to separate reality from delusion) is cleverly done. As a whole, however, the film is belaboured and conventional, crying out for Academy attention with its uplifting love-conquers-all story featuring a mentally disturbed genius as the protagonist. (This practically sounds like the Oscar instruction manual on How To Get Nominated.) The attention was duly given. Never mind that the actual facts of the real John Nash's life were somewhat white-washed in the movie for mass appeal.
Jennifer Connelly is a graceful presence throughout the film, but her character is too good to be true. Only one or two scenes show her as a human being with messy emotions and desperation rather than as that June Allyson cypher, the long-suffering 50s wife. The standout is Paul Bettany as Nash's room-mate - charming, believable and natural, as effortless in his acting as Crowe is obvious.