Review – A Beautiful Mind

Actor Russell Crowe and director Ron Howard make a transparent run for the Academy Awards with this lengthy drama about schizophrenic genius John Nash. Hey, it paid off for Howard. Nash’s life makes for interesting cinema, starting with his days as a grad student at Princeton and following him through his career as a professor, his descent into madness, and his eventual rehabilitation (assisted of course by his beautiful wife, played by Jennifer Connolly in another successful Oscar bid). Though Crowe’s performance does a good job of demonstrating his range as an actor, somewhere around the middle of the movie it acquires the distinct flavor of Dustin Hoffman’s appearance in Rain Man (or other similar portrayals of the mentally differently abled). It’s a slick production. It’s a touching tale. Mildly amusing