Ron Howard has had trouble earning respect as a director, but that may be changing soon. Most of the people who only remember
him as Opie must be dead by now, and even those of us who think of him as Richie Cunningham are getting on in years. Soon, a whole new generation of people will remember him only as the director of proficient, well-made, unspectacular films like "Far and Away," "Apollo 13" and now "A Beautiful Mind." "A Beautiful Mind" is the true story of Dr. John Nash, a Princeton-educated math genius whose work for the government led to a number of interesting and quasi-interesting developments. Russell Crowe plays Nash at an Oscar-caliber level, far outshining anyone else involved -- including Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman. It begins with Nash at Princeton in 1947, using math principles to figure out the best way to pick up girls -- and then rushing back to his apartment to develop the theories, rather than actually using them. His roommate, Charles (Paul Bettany, last seen as Geoffrey Chaucer in "A Knight's Tale" ), is a hard-partying English major, and he does what he can to keep Nash sane.
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