A Beautiful Film

Rating: 9/10 (26 March 2002)

Though this movie looked pretty good in the previews, I wasn't entirely anxious to see it until Oscar time was approaching. Until then, I felt "In the Bedroom" deserved the Best Picture Oscar, Tom Wilkinson for Best Actor and Marisa Tomei for Best Supporting Actress. I just had the impression that "A Beautiful Mind" would be one of those overblown melodramas that suck up to the Academy. Well, after finally watching this film, my opinions were altered completely. I'm sure if Russell Crowe didn't start any emotional outbursts, he would've certainly won for Best Actor. I love Denzel Washington, and he was great in "Training Day," but he played a ruthless villain and his role didn't have many dimensions. As Richard Roeper said, Denzel had the opportunity to ham it up a little. But I guess the Academy wanted to be PC this year and have two African-American actors--him and Halle Berry--step up to the podium. But I'm still grateful that the movie won Best Picture and Ron Howard (finally!) won Best Director.

Crowe not only had to fake an American accent, but also fake a West Virginian accent--one that I imagine even an American actor would have difficulty with. He is incredible as the schizophrenic John Nash, who you feel a deeper sympathy for as the film moves along. Lots of actors have played mentally challenged characters, but schitzophrenia is a disorder with many dimensions and Crowe was entirely believable. I'm sure he did tons of research for the role, and it shows. Jennifer Connelly is a charming, slightly underrated actress who many are unfamiliar with simply because she's starred in mainly independent works. She is not only beautiful to watch, but gives the best performance of her career, and her Oscar is well-deserved.
The film is long, but never overlong. I was so fully engaged, journeying through the brilliant but troubled mind of John Nash, that time ceased to exist. And of course, anytime a brilliant film like this is released, there's always going to be a cult interested in reducing the hype by pointing out minor flaws in the story. According to these people, the film failed to include certain elements of Nash's life, making it not entirely accurate. This a movie! Not a documentary! Have you ever seen a biopic that was ENTIRELY accurate? I don't know much about Nash's life. All I know is his life inspired a wonderful motion picture. Hell, I can point out certain flaws myself. The speech Nash gives at the end was obviously doctored for dramatic purposes and I'm pretty sure the librarians at Nash's college would've kicked him out the library for marking up their windows. But this is such an amazing, touching film that I really don't care, and I'm sure most audiences will feel the same way.
My score: 9 (out of 10)