Rating: 
Summary: Love this Movie!
Review: I hate Russell Crowe, so it is hard to say this, but I did love this movie. It was so compelling and well done. Great story, great movie..
Rating: 
Summary: Clodhopper extravaganza
Review: You have to be immensely thick-headed to think this is a quality film. It is absolute [junk]. Russell Crowe's accent is questionable and inconsistent, Jennifer Connelly is attractive but has no emotional depth and seems entirely anachronistic, while the portrayal of academic life and the world of theoretical mathematics is laughably simplified. You've probably heard that newspapers write down to the level of an 8th grade reader--this is far worse. Elementary level intelligence. It could have been a great film, an interesting film, but it is saturated with sentimentality and boorish scriptwriting. Best Picture? Best Actor? Unbelievable. This is like a Dreamworks film: let's mix a little Sixth Sense, Dead Poets Society, Conspiracy Theory, then add some romance, martyrdom, and child issues for the ladies. A thoroughly stupid picture.
Rating: 
Summary: Over-hyped, Boring, Cheesy as Macaroni!!!
Review: This is to me, a classic example of critics being in love with a movie for its "movie qualities" but the finished product stinks! Get out the gas masks and the pooper scooper for this one! Though the movie is mildly entertaining in the middle portion of the movie for about 15-20 minutes, the opening of the movie is very boring and the ending very, very cheesy! I understand that this was based on a true story, so the ending is what the ending is, and if this movie hadn't of been so over-hyped it wouldn't alteast had the "let-down factor" to it! Best thing about the movie is Jennifer Connelly, great actress and what a hottie! However, I can not believe that this movie won Best Picture of the Year! Actually, on second thought I can believe it - it is always these boring movies with some supposendly "meaningful" storyline and sappy ending that win in Hollywood. What a joke!
Rating: 
Summary: Very good movie, but a little overhyped...
Review: First let me say that "A Beautiful Mind" is a very good movie. It's well made, well acted, and a very thoughtful picture. The biggest problem with it is that it's a shoe-in for Academy Awards like "Best Actor," "Best Director," and "Best Picture." Director Ron Howard definitely deserves the Best Director award. This may be his best directing job yet. But let's look at the others. I really think any respectable actor besides Russell Crowe could've gotten the Best Actor award. That part could've been played by anybody and the award would've been given to him. The film was also a shoe-in for Best Picture simply because it was a touching life story about a man with a mental disease. But putting all these expectations aside, "A Beautiful Mind" is still a very good movie, even when it's obviously trying to jerk a few tears. It tells the story of John Nash, a gifted mathematician who finds out he has schizophrennia. We meet John when he's a young hotshot in college and follow his life up until 1994 when he recieves the Nobel prize. I wouldn't take everything in this movie as law. There are many inaccuracies and omissions to Nash's life in the film. But for what it's worth it is a well-made film and will delight those who weep easily in movies. Don't take my criticisms on this film too seriously. I did like this movie a lot. However, there are other similar films that didn't get awards that I would recommend instead of this.
Rating:
Summary: Compassionate Portrayal of Mental Illness
Review: Halfway through, I didn't like it, but the second half changed my mind. I couldn't understand why Russell Crowe, with his Australia accent, was cast as Nash, who was from West Virginia. That was very distracting. They couldn't hire an accent coach for Crowe? His Princeton roommate had a British accent, which was equally puzzling. Sure, a roommate from Britain is plausible, but it had nothing to do with the narrative. I didn't like the beginning of the movie because I felt it was glorifying obnoxious, anti-social behavior. I felt the message was that it is OK to act like a jerk, as long as you are brilliant. I liked the second half better because it showed Nash as troubled and someone to be pitied. I felt the portrayal was very compassionate and empathetic. My favorite scene in the movie occurs when Nash, his wife, and the psychiatrist are sitting together around a table. Nash had been out of the hospital for a while. He stopped taking his medication, and as a result had a recurrence of his delusions. Nash explained that he stopped taking his medications because they prevented him from doing his work. After all his troubles, confinement and medication, he still insisted that he could solve his problems with his own mind alone. The shrink for his part explained that the problem was with his mind. I found it interesting because it showed (much better than my description here), Nash both being conflicted as well as trying to take control of the problem. Ed Harris's film noir portrayal of a cold war secret government agent was outstanding. I was mesmerized by the elegant beauty of the actress Jennifer Connelly, as Nash's wife, Alicia. I wish the film had gone into what attracted her to him, just a little. I found her to be very cool and stable minded. The bottom line of the film is that mental illness can happen to anyone, no matter how intelligent or talented. The movie also showed the importance of patience with such people, as well as the importance of love. It is a movie worth seeing.
Rating:
Summary: Hollywood again...
Review: The film emphasizes Nash's wild childishness and insanity, which apparently were true, but conveys no sense of either the depth or breadth of Nash's mathematical creativity and contributions. Nasar's book of the same title is far better and is far more informative, although it receives some reasonable criticism in Mirowski's 'Machine Dreams' (where the question 'What does it feel like to play a Nash equilibrium?' is posed). For an even better history of game theory, RAND, military funding of science, and simultaneously a biography of von Neumann, read Poundstone's 'Prisoner's Dilemma' (which Nasar quotes abundantly in her book 'A Beautiful Mind'). One interesting point conveyed by the film: that Nash managed his insanity by learning to ignore the voices in his head. If true, then this would be an impressive lesson for others.
Rating:
Summary: loses its mind and beauty
Review: Until the revelation of the Big Surprise, the movie is great. After that, it becomes the typical Hollywood head vs. heart smackdown. Like any professional wrestling presentation, it's a fixed fight. You're a fool to bet on the gray wrinkled tinker toy instead of the little red pumping engine that could. We Americans can't seem to get enough of such this corner/that corner spectacles, despite the predictability of the formula and the drabness of the platitudes that pop out in the end. Crowe puts up a good struggle here, but no actor could slog gracefully through the syrup that coagulates over the last third of this script. Ed Harris is awesome. Jennifer Connelly is a pretty cream puff and little else. The DVD is full of the typical self-congratulatory and mutual back-patting nonsense, along with a bunch of useless behind-the-scenes material. What's the point of knowing how the special effects and make-up were done, how the cast was chosen, how the score was written, etc? Especially for this film which is not destined to be a classic.
Rating:
Summary: Overcoming the Impossible
Review: Just when you think you have problems that can't be mastered, or overcome, not to mention the belief that there are problems inside you that you would expect NO ONE to ever want to share a life with you due to them, this movie comes out to send a valuable message. A very special person wanted me to see this movie, to express that the love felt for me was as strong as the love in this movie, and in that, there are no obsticles, just an adventurous journey. I loved the movie for that main reason. I have had Songs dedicated to me when I have been down, but to have a movie dedicated was sweet. Based on a true story, I love their monumental commitment and love.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Mind confuses my mind
Review: Despite all the great reviews, I must say that, while I was
hooked at the beginning of the movie, I slowly drifted into confusion. It was difficult for me to distinguish fantasy
against reality, and so about maybe a third of the ways
I couldn't understand who/what the heck the government agent
was and why he and the little girl kept on appearing and reappearing before Crowe's eyes. It was just very confusing
to me and thus wasn't satisfied with this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: *** NOT BAD, NOT BRILLIANT ***
Review: A Beautiful Mind is Directed by Ron Howard, and stars Russell Crowe in a critically acclaimed performance as John Nash, a mathematical genius struggling to overcome schizophrenia, in this 'based on a true story', triumph over adversity tale. Playing the mentally or physically ill has always been a fast-track to critical and Oscar success. Since 1945, approximately 20 actors and actresses have received Oscars for playing people with some sort of disability including most recently; Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man), Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot), Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman), Geoffrey Rush (Shine) and Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted). However, Russell Crowe narrowly (and somewhat controversially) missed out on his second Oscar even though A Beautiful Mind still triumphed on Oscar night winning Best Picture and Best Director at the 74th Annual Academy Awards. Much debate still rumbles on as to whether or not Russell Crowe deserved to win his second Oscar and whether or not his ill-tempered display at the British Academy Awards cost him his second golden statuette. With this in mind I was intrigued to eventually dust down the DVD my wife had given me for Christmas and to cast a critical eye over this (in many ways) controversial movie. First off, let me start by saying that if you already know that John Nash is/was schizophrenic (and lets face it who doesn't?) then the surprise (and indeed) suspense element of this movie is already spoilt. For it is then easy to guess from very early on in the movie that Russell Crowe's character may be hallucinating and experiencing paranoid delusions. Having studied mental illness and worked with people suffering from schizophrenia another major problem I found with 'A Beautiful Mind' is just how saccharine sweet it all is with the real difficulties of schizophrenia being somewhat diluted (if only it was that easy) in what is a very commercial film. Of course, all Hollywood biographies tend to smooth out the rough edges but it is more than a little disappointing that many of the more interesting facts about Nash's life and his relationships are overlooked. For example there is no mention of the fact that his wife divorced and later re-married him, or his illegitimate and shizophrenic son (conceived with another woman before his marriage) or his alleged homosexual/bisexual tendencies, which saw him arrested in 1954. The last omission in particular leaves me to conclude that according to Hollywood morality and the screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (responsible for the lamentable Batman and Robin) it is okay to be insane as long as you're not gay. That said however, there are some very good things about A Beautiful Mind and Russell Crowe is at the centre of most of them. For it is his often understated and considered performance that makes A Beautiful Mind a very watchable movie and lifts it above your average Hollywood fare. Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly in particular also offer fine support and it is always a pleasure to see Ed Harris in pretty much any movie. To be fair, Ron Howard also directs this movie skilfully if somewhat by the numbers and Akiva Goldsman's screenplay builds an interesting if somewhat commercial plot, which would be fine if it were not so sugar-coated.
In summary, five stars should be awarded to Russell Crowe (and the rest of the cast) but otherwise this is a 3 star movie. Not bad, not brilliant, just typically Hollywood. Entertaining but not real life...
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