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Rating:  - A Beautiful Mind - Again
Adaptation of a play with little action, but some decent dialogue. Gwyneth Paltrow plays a crazy daughter of a crazy math genius. The 'proof' is a math term. I was entertained, but this is fairly forgettable stuff. The sister has some nice moments playing down to the crazy one. You won't laugh and you won't cry.
Rating:  - Just bad
If you are a mathematician, you will hate this movie -- nothing in it will remind you of the math world you know. Just think a minute: How many people in your math department look like Gwyneth Paltrow? Or even Jake Gyllenhaal? That should give you a hint to how realistic this movie is.
I found the movie so frustrating, I had to turn it off after about 20 minutes. Examples:
High-school-level conversation about insanity between two people who are both supposed to be exceptional mathematicians.
Ridiculous back-and-forth between Paltrow and Gyllenhaal where they keep changing attitudes and even personalities. I know it's based on a stage play, but couldn't they calm it down a bit for the screen?
Lazy screenplay shorthand for bossy woman: talking on cell phone about china patterns while walking through airport. Grrrr!
And finally, what made me shut it off: That insane conversation between Paltrow and Hope Davis, where one thinks the other is hallucinating for no apparent reason.
Spare me! Spare yourselves.
Rating:  - Great acting
Gwyneth Paltrow is great in Proof. She appears depressed, creative, brilliant, vulnerable, etc. as the genius-level daughter of a brilliant father. This is the best work I've ever seen her do. Better than Shakespeare in Love, the film that won her an Oscar. This role seems like it would be far harder to pull off than most, but Ms. Paltrow's performance is fluid, flawless, committed, and carries a subtle sense of humor throughout. Realistic and inspirational story.
Rating:  - Very good acting in a very bad cause...
The idea that mathematical genius is somehow strange or crazy
is very bad doctrine. People with power of innovation and original
thought are produced in the gene pool with regularity.
They are almost as likely to be found among the poor
as among the wealthy.
Much of the real advancement of civilizations has depended on them
braving misunderstanding and persecution to bring their ideas forward.
Contributing to their problems as this movie does,
even with the very good acting is not a good idea.
The Nash's of the world are seldom and very much not the "rule".
Rating: - Proof
Proof is one of the best movies that I have ever seen. I missed seeing it when it was firt released. I have watched it many times on the Starz channel and then I finally bought it. The story is fascinating, the cast which largely consists of Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, and Jake Gyllenhaal is the best that one could hope for. I would hope that many people who are intelligent will see it if they haven't already done so.
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