Good but overrated biopic

Rating: 7/10 (27 March 2002)

SPOILERS
It's always inspiring to see someone overcome adversity like John Nash, the real-life hero of A Beautiful Mind. A brilliant mathematician, he suffered from sever paranoid schizophrenia for most of his adult life. But he learned to live with it, as normal a life as possible, and he ended up being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1994. It's a great story. Too bad it's so generically told in Ron Howard's film. It's as by-the-numbers as a film like this can really get. The direction is bland, and the writing can be quite dull at times. Shine, for instance, is a much better film very similar in plot and structure. I must make an interjection in my own criticisms for this film, though. One reason why A Beautiful Mind may lack power is that it had some major points spoiled in the advertising. We don't actually know in the film, not until a long time in, that Nash is suffering delusions and fantasies. For instance, Ed Harris' character is imaginary, which can be deduced almost instantly. But would I have assumed that if I didn't know what the film was about? Can't be so sure.
Anyhow, A Beautiful Mind is well worth seeing. The actors are pretty good. Russel Crowe may have given his best performance so far in the film. He won an Oscar last year for a rather lame role in Gladiator, but if he wins this year (I write this the night before the Oscars air, by the way) it will be very deserved. We've got an actor here who will continue to impress the hell out of us. Hopefully he can restrain himself from beating the crap out of people (I think that it might cost him the award, but we'll see in approximately 24 hours! An update: it did). Jennifer Connely is good, but she's been a lot better elsewhere, most notably in Dark City and Requiem for a Dream. It wouldn't be too out of line to award her, though. The rest of the awards it has been nominated for can vanish, for all I care. There's nothing special about Ron Howard's direction. It may be his best film, but that's a backhanded complement coming from me. The editing is plain. James Horner's score is particularly bad. It's far too overdramatic. The makeup is a possibility, though. Russel Crowe's old man makeup is quite good. I give the film a 7/10.