The Hollywood Stamp of Excellence?

Rating: 4/10 (8 July 2002)

(SPOILERS) To Russell Crowe's credit, he resists the temptation to wallow in Akiva Goldman's overwrought, pseudo-Greek tragedy of a script to deliver a fairly compelling performance. Nash's story IS compelling; however, Ron Howard (director) misses every opportunity to tell it or interpret it. Again and again, he resorts to safe, traditional, manipulative, Hollywood direction and refuses to enter Nash's mind and relay his experience in a visual or metaphorical way (refer to Aronofsky's brilliant "Pi"). We are instead given car chases, conspiracy theories, imaginary friends, sentimental scenes with fountain pens, but alas, no interesting camera work. That's a pity. Roger Deakins' cinematography (with the Coen Brothers, for instance) is usually astonishing. Here, it's merely serviceable. Howard reigned Deakins in for all the wrong reasons. Lastly, the Academy of Blah, Blah, Blah is just as predictable, misty-eyed and conservative as it has always been. A Beautiful Mind was certainly not the best picture of last year.