Opie's a Hack

Rating: Null/10 (14 January 2002)

I hate to say it, but Ron Howard is nothing more than a glorified hack. The man we remember fondly as "Opie Taylor" and "Richie Cunningham" has become the new King of Hollywood, churning out one populist hit after another. But to take the harrowing story of John Nash and turn it into "Good Will Hunting"/"Dead Poets Society" mush is going too far. Not only does Howard fool around with the facts to satisfy his crowd-pleasing neurosis, he saturates his film with a cliche-ridden musical score. Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly are solid, but their efforts aren't enough to give the film more bite. This is a story about a very serious mental disorder, one that nearly ruined this man's life. One wonders what a director such as David Lynch or Peter Jackson would've done with this material (think "The Elephant Man"). Nash deserves a darker, more complex take on his condition, not syrupy strings and cute little one-liners the audience can see coming a mile away.
** out of ****