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by Frank Wilkins

A Beautiful Mind is the biography of John Forbes Nash, a brilliant 20th century mathematician forced to grapple with paranoid schizophrenia on his way to winning the 1999 Nobel Prize® for economics nearly 40 years after being diagnosed with the mental illness. On the surface this does not sound compelling to me in the least, being the right brained individual that I am. Mathematics and economics are about as interesting to me as chiaroscuro and hue, saturation, and brightness would be to Alan Greenspan. But put the story of a famed mathematician into the hands of Director Ron Howard and writer Akiva Goldsman and it becomes more than the true-life story of John Nash. It takes on a life of its own, challenging you to guess what is real and what is not. Regardless of the subject matter, it stands alone as a wonderfully constructed execution of storytelling and cinematic performance.

Although much of the subject matter can become a bit tiresome, weaving in and out of economic theories, mathematical formulas written in grease pencil on windows and spy codes hidden in magazine texts, Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly bring it back to life with knockout performances as the Nash and his love-is-blind spouse. Russell Crowe's arrogance and his overrated performance in Gladiator have combined to put him on my personal respect level right there alongside Pauly Shore and Keanu Reeves. But this performance, especially in his portrayal of the older Nash, moves him up several notches on my what-have-you-done-for-me lately totem pole.

A Beautiful Mind is a powerful lesson about love and how it can triumph over even the most difficult and challenging human predicaments. Though tedious and a bit over meticulous at times, It is a moving film that delves deep into the soul of a genius mind and ultimately shows us that we can overcome our weaknesses. A Beautiful Mind garners the highest rating possible in the Julia Roberts factor as it touches all the emotions, yet scores very low on the macho scale. It might get you lucky and it is definitely safe for in-laws. Baby-sitter factor is low not because of its rating, but because I don't think it will entertain children.

I want to bring attention at this point to the Special features on the DVD. See the details below, but this is what Special Edition DVDs are all about. I hope that the sales of this DVD are successful to bring to the attention of the motion picture companies out there, that this is what the people want to see. We are not only interested in the movie itself, but we also like all the behind-the-scenes features as well. This disc is nearly as packed full of features as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Way to go!

Frank Wilkins

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Screen formats: Widescreen anamorphic

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: English (Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Other Features: Color; region 1 encoding; interactive menus; scene access; Audio commentary, Development of the screenplay, Meeting John Nash, Accepting the nobel prize in economics, Casting Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly, Featurette: "The Process of Age Progression", Storyboard comparisons, Featurette: "Creation of the Special Effects", Featurette: "Scoring the Film", Academy Award speeches from the winners.

DVD Easter Eggs (hidden features): This is very easy to find but still a nice little extra. On the second disc select bonus materials from the main menu. Go to the second page and select Now Showing. The following movies will be pictured-APOLLO 13, THE FAMILY MAN, K-PAX, and PATCH ADAMS. Underneath each are a film icon and a disc icon. Select the film icon to view trailers, select the disc icon for either behind the scenes or an outtake.

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Complete Cast:

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