A beautiful "fiction" *** (out of ****)

Rating: 8/10 (27 December 2002)

A Beautiful Mind is marketed as a story "Based on events in the life of John Forbes Nash, Jr.". Nowadays, however, based on is a fairly loose term. The sheer number of factual errors and liberties taken with the life of the schizophrenic mathematician are too many to count, so perhaps it is best to think of this film as a fiction. That said, this otherwise mediocre movie is elevated to an extreme degree by Russell Crowe's brilliant performance. As John Nash, Crowe is nothing short of astounding. He single handedly redeems the film, and raises it past the level of mediocrity. In truth, this film won four academy awards it should not have (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress), and lost the one award for which it should have been a shoo-in (Best Actor). Is there no justice?