A fantastic film...

Rating: Null/10 (19 December 2001)

...on every level: acting, writing, score, photography, directing, production design -- this movie fires on all cylinders! It's VERY rare for me to see a movie that I can tell people whole-heartedly, "Go see this ASAP! You won't be sorry you spent your time and money doing so."
I was already impressed with Ron Howard after APOLLO 13, but he's getting better with each movie he directs. And Russell Crowe is no one-hit wonder -- he's the Real Deal -- he IS John Nash Jr. in this film and totally believable. Jennifer Connelly gives a solid and touching performance as Nash's girlfriend/wife, embodying the true meaning of unconditional love (many women would have run away from such a domestic situation at the first opportunity). The rest of the cast is pitch perfect.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about A BEAUTIFUL MIND is how Ron Howard and DP Roger Deakins visually get across what it is to be schizophrenic -- a very real mental health issue that, to my knowledge, has never been examined so seriously in a film (sidenote: though it's not mentioned in the film, Nash spent time at McLean Hospital near Boston, the same mental institution where Susanna Kaysen, author of "Girl, Interrupted", James Taylor, Ray Charles, and writer Sylvia Plath also spent time).
An uplifting film without being preachy, and a story people from all walks of life can identify with at many different levels -- a very rare Hollywood film indeed.
Go see it!