Rainman does Fight Club

Rating: Null/10 (15 November 2002)

Granted that A Beautiful Mind was based on a true story. Omit the part, of course, about John Nash's anti-semitism. Add in competent film directing. Stir in rumors of greatness and there you have it--a long, boring film.
I am not a great Russell Crowe fan, basically, because I don't care much for the man. But, aside from that, A Beautiful Mind was simply Fight Club in a different situation and while Fight Club shown with brilliance, A Beautiful Mind wallows in self-pity. Watching Nash deteriorate I was reminded of Bill Bob Thornton's Forrest Grunt character in Sling Blade, which made me want to bang my head against a wall.
I tend to like what I like, regardless of what others say. I actually walked out of Signs, hated Y Tu and Mama Tambien and thought There's Something about Mary was inane, so take my opinion for what it's worth if you loved those films.
At the end of A Beautiful Mind, I felt unsatisfied and somehow robbed of more than two hours of my life. Maybe the purpose of it all was to get the audience to feel what it is like to actually become insane. If so, it found great success in me.
Why exactly did John Nash win the Nobel Prize? I think that Velcro was a far greater discovery and the inventor of that received no great accolades. Nash reminded me of an idiot savant more than anything else and I felt like just an idiot for having sat through it all. I guess I shouldn't have, but it was all though imaginary people around me telling me to stay put--or else. Someone feed me fish sticks and take me to K-Mart quick.