A Hollywood-sized Lie

Rating: 6/10 (29 March 2002)

"A Beautiful Mind" is safe, conservative, Hollywood pap. It's not challenging, interesting, or even remotely intellectually satisfying. The film "confronts" schizophrenia by sugarcoating the truth with take-my-breath-away, "Sixth Sense"-style revelations following straightforward (and egregiously inaccurate) visual hallucinations. The film claims that a scrambled mind can use that scrambled mind to unscramble it with the support and love of a good woman. It's an inexcusable lie, and irresponsible with respect to the truly horrific reality of schizophrenia. The film picked the perfect formula: take a real man's story, strip away everything but his name, pretend to deal with a deep issue (like mental illness), alter it to make it more palatable to mainstream audiences, slap on a happy ending, and open your arms for a slew of awards. It is mushy, manipulative tripe and the worst Best Picture in recent memory.