‎A Beautiful Mind (2001) directed by Ron Howard • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

A Beautiful Mind

2001 Directed by Ron Howard

I need to believe that something extra ordinary is possible...

At Princeton University, John Nash struggles to make a worthwhile contribution to serve as his legacy to the world of mathematics. He finally makes a revolutionary breakthrough that will eventually earn him the Nobel Prize. After graduate school he turns to teaching, becoming romantically involved with his student Alicia. Meanwhile the government asks his help with breaking Soviet codes, which soon gets him involved in a terrifying conspiracy plot. Nash grows more and more paranoid until a discovery that turns his entire world upside down. Now it is only with Alicia's help that he will be able to recover his mental strength and regain his status as the great mathematician we know him as today..

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 Jillie Simon Victor Steinbach Tanya Clarke Thomas F. Walsh Jesse Doran Kent Cassella Patrick Blindauer John Blaylock Roy Thinnes Anthony Easton Cheryl Howard Josh Pais David B. Allen Michael Esper Erik Van Wyck Rance Howard Jane Jenkins Show All…

135 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by truman segal ★★★★ 3

ugh, his mind
Review by CinemaClown ★★★★

Winner of 4 Academy Awards including Best Picture, A Beautiful Mind is an expertly crafted biopic based on the life of schizophrenic mathematician John Nash & covers his struggle with his condition. Although the artistic license taken here makes it far more cinematic than required, the film nonetheless succeeds as a touching, entertaining & satisfying experience.

Based on the novel of the same name, the story of A Beautiful Mind begins in 1947 when the young John Nash arrives at Princeton University. Eccentric but brilliant, Nash graduates with flying colours, is hired by MIT but begins exhibiting troubling symptoms of a mental illness which in the long run affects not only his personal & professional life but also those around him.

Directed by…
Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★ 4

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

"So what am I now, a spy?"

Not only did I manage not to have this movie spoiled for me, but despite it being a favorite of my father's and girlfriend's I managed to block out the knowledge that there was even anything to spoil about it. Before the movie started my dad even said something along the lines of, "It's never the same as the first time you see it." Thank you, brain, for selectively understanding the world around me.

There's a section of this movie which is absolutely terrifying to me, more than any horror movie I've ever seen. A Beautiful Mind plays out the idea that you can't think your way out of mental illness. There's a…
Review by Joe ★½ 1

How's this for a problem without a solution: who gives a shit
Review by Scott Anderson ★★★½ 5

I find the concept of expectations and whether or not they are met to be fascinating, especially in regards to film criticism. Last night I finally saw the 2002 Best Picture winner A Beautiful Mind for the first time, a mere 12 years after its release, and without a doubt it is a very good film, one that was elevated to that level through pretty great performances throughout but especially from the two leads. Russell Crowe is John Forbes Nash Jr. and Jennifer Connelly is Alicia, a student in his class that stuns Nash not just with her beauty but also the bold move she makes to solve a noise/temperature problem on his first day as her teacher. I truly…
Review by Dave ★★★★

Before "Noah" came along, Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly owned this highly entertaining drama about the life of John Nash. Rather than play it like a straight biopic, Ron Howard chose to go inside Nash’s schizophrenic mind, and the results are dazzling.

Crowe, disappearing once again, adds another enigmatic role to his roster of great performances. He should have won Oscars for "The Insider" and this film, not for "Gladiator," but I digress. He's easily one of our best actors-slash-movie stars in the business.

And Jennifer Connelly? Well, dammit, she can do no wrong, can she?

Recent reviews

Review by Ervita Rocky Siregar ★★★★

Pemenang 4 Oscar, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, dan Best Picture, tentu membuat film ini menjadi daftar wajib tonton. Bahkan saya termasuk terlambat menonton film ini. Diadaptasi dari buku yang berjudul sama karya Sylvia Nasar, film ini bergenre drama biografi yang menceritakan seorang mathematician yang memenangkan nobel. Sekilas memang sepertinya biasa saja, karena saat awal menonton film ini pun, saya mengira film ini hanyalah sebatas perjuangan mahasiswa muda sebelum akhirnya memenangkan nobel di usia tua. Namun ternyata film ini mengungkap perjuangan yang lebih berat karena sang mathematician tersebut memilki penyakit jiwa schizophrenia, yaitu gangguan mental yang menyebabkan penderitanya sering mengalami delusional dan halusinasi.

Dibintangi Russell Crowe, saya agak meragukan dan mengira Crowe akan miscast karena perannya di dalam…
Review by Gonzalo Rocha ★★

This movie is just too long.
Review by SNSDPINCH ★★★½

약간 오래되었지만 잘 다려진 고급 양복같은 영화
Review by Jake Cowan ★★★½

Thanks to terrific performance across the (black)board and a marvelous, if formulaic to a fault, screenplay, the film remains engaging even when the story seems occasionally to slip away from itself, rushing through a life it has already pared down for the sake of Hollywood conventions. "Formulaic to a fault," of course, is a large part of Nash's madness, his genius for recognizing patterns at a glance—smartly captured here by the camera—part and parcel with his paranoia, a metaphysical belief in the underlying interconnected of all knowledge. For all its clever execution, however, in the end the film duplicates too many typical tropes and narrative patterns—"the burden of genius" and "madness leads to creativity" and "irrationality (love) will save the over-rational"—turning Nash's singular brilliance into something far more standard, ultimately submitting to the phantasmic structure rather than trying to interrupt it in any meaningful way.
Review by HolyMovieBatman ★★★★

Some really deep and emotional scenes get to you and the acting is all around very good. The only negative thing that comes to my mind is it seems really rushed and choppy in terms of the scene transitions. Besides that though, great movie with a great story.
Review by James Sansom ★★½

Shameless oscar bait featuring a very self indulgent central performance from Russell Crowe. It's loaded with so many mannerisms and tixs early on that later when Nash is suffering we just can't quite grasp at how serious his condition is. However some props should be given to Ron Howard and writer Akiva Goldsman who manage to pull off an incredible twist halfway through that you couldn't see coming. It is rather impressive in a film that feels so straight and narrow. What follows is exactly that but it's a pleasant enough watch without ever real being remarkable enough to stay in the mind for long.
Review by Gavin Nelson

Well I have to admit that I was not really into the movie until Jennifer Connely’s character appeared and the mental health plot started kicking into gear, but for the most part I really enjoyed A Beautiful Mind. Russel Crowe is pretty good as John Nash, but Jennifer Connely is the real MVP playing his wife. Her range in this is just crazy — one second she’s calmly trying to explain something to her husband, and the next she’s throwing stuff and screaming while breaking a bathroom mirror. There’s great acting and the directing from Howard is decent, and the story threads about a significant other reeling with your mental illnesses and problems is fascinating. Maybe not so much with…
Review by Cynical Shroom ★★★★

It turns out this was the prequel to The Mummy with the origin story of Jekyll/Hyde all along
Review by Alisha ★★

I realize they took liberties with the story to make the movie, but honestly if they kept it more true and nuanced it would’ve been a lot more interesting. Really felt lacking, with uninspired direction. Dull.