A Beautiful Mind

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

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

Movie Details

Cast: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Paul Bettany, Adam Goldberg, Josh Lucas, Anthony Rapp, Jason Gray-Stanford, Judd Hirsch, Austin Pendleton, Vivien Cardone, Jill Simon, Victor Steinbach, Tanya Clarke
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 135 min
DVD Aspect Ratios: 1.85:1

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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

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