Best Picture?

Rating: 6/10 (27 June 2002)

When was the last time that you saw a Best Picture award winner that you really thought deserved the title?
My guess is that you will not be impressed with this latest recipient.
Before watching a Beautiful Mind, I read all the press about how the movie was not an accurate portrayal of the life of John Nash; that it left out several important but "inconvenient" or "unattractive" facts. I told myself that I would put all that aside, however, and try to see the movie as simply a good story.
So much for that approach.
I found this movie to be pretty boring and unfulfilling. They spend very little time on character development and even if you haven't read about the parts of Nash's story that were left out of the movie, it still feels like something is missing.
Nash is supposed to be some kind of unrivaled genius, but aside from watching Russell Crowe stare at many terribly complicated equations (no doubt written onto library windows and chalk boards by graduate students who happened by the set during filming) we get very little sense of what it was that this guy did that was so earth shattering.
If they had bothered to go more into Nash's game theory work, the movie could have been a lot more impressive and interesting. As it is, we are left to take on faith that Nash's theories about maximizing his and his friends chances of getting laid must have been Nobel caliber stuff.
Furthermore, there is no explanation at all about what on earth it is about Nash (a confirmed misanthrope) that could possibly make his wife fall in love with him, much less spend her entire life as the care-taker of the nuthouse that is Nash's life. Note: had they felt inclined to include the fact that Nash and his wife were separated for a while, it might make the picture a little more believable.
Maybe she knew that she would win Best Supporting Actress if she stuck around long enough.
Once again, I am disappointed in the Academy's Best Picture selection.