A Beautiful Mind

Story

A Beautiful Mind manages to twist enough pathos out of John Nash's incredible life story to redeem an at-times goofy portrayal of schizophrenia. Russell Crowe tackles the role with characteristic fervor, playing the Nobel prize-winning mathematician from his days at Princeton, where he developed a groundbreaking economic theory, to his meteoric rise to the cover of Forbes magazine and an MIT professorship, and on through to his eventual dismissal due to schizophrenic delusions. Of course, it is the delusions that fascinate director Ron Howard and, predictably, go astray. Nash's other world, populated as it is by a maniacal Department of Defense agent (Ed Harris), an imagined college roommate who seems straight out of Dead Poets Society, and an orphaned girl, is so fluid and scriptlike as to make the viewer wonder if schizophrenia is really as slick as depicted. Crowe's physical intensity drags us along as he works admirably to carry the film on his considerable shoulders. No doubt the story of Nash's amazing will to recover his life without the aid of medication is a worthy one, his eventual triumph heartening. Unfortunately, Howard's flashy style is unable to convey much of it. --Fionn Meade

DVD Features

• Available Subtitles: Spanish, French
  
• Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
  
• Commentary by: director Ron Howard
  
• Commentary by: screenwriter Akiva Goldsman
  
• Disc 1:
  
• Feature film
  
• Deleted scenes - with optional director's commentary
  
• Disc 2:
  
• A Beautiful Partnership: Ron Howard and Brian Grazer
  
• Development of the Screenplay
  
• Meeting John Nash - The Nash Theory of Equilibrium
  
• "Accepting the Nobel Prize in Economics"
  
• "The Process of Age Progression"
  
• Storyboards to final feature comparison
  
• Creation of special effects
  
• Scoring the film
  
• Inside A Beautiful Mind
  
• Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay
  
• A Beautiful Mind soundtrack

Theatrical International release dates:
Europe: Feb 22, 02
Japan: Mar 30, 02

Movie Details

Cast:

Jennifer Connelly
Russell Crowe
Adam Goldberg
Ed Harris
Judd Hirsch
Christopher Plummer
Paul Bettany
Josh Lucas
Jason Gray-Stanford
Austin Pendleton

MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 135 min
DVD Aspect Ratios: 1.85:1

International rating:

Europe: 12
Australia: M

DVD International release dates:
North America: Jun 25, 02
Europe: Oct 7, 02

VHS International release dates:
Europe: Oct 7, 02