decent Hollywood drama, nothing more; typical Ron Howard fluff

Rating: 7/10 (25 February 2002)

somewhat disappointing; the movie never reached the strong emotional impact that I expected after all te praises it got. It's an often powerful movie, and the acting is strong, but it's really nothing to put in a top 100 like this site's users have. Maybe if you know nothing at all about the movie you'll like it, but you only need to know that he eventually wins a Nobel Prize to know exactly how it will end, ruining most of the suspense. Still, I enjoyed the scenes with Ed Harris, he's wonderfully creepy as the mysterious agent. I also liked the way the movie showed how the guy saw strange patterns everywhere, that was pretty interesting. Jennifer Connelly is not near as good in this film as the reviews make her out to be. Her performance is not that big a deal. Russell Crowe was mostly convincing but often overly mannered as Nash. All in all, it's a pretty good film, but if you're like me, 16-year-old guy, just wait for the DVD and watch The Lord of the Rings (again) instead.