A Beautiful Mind
Universal Pictures | Release Date: December 21, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
9
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Inspiring and largely unsentimental, this is as much a love story as a tale of courage. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Crowe brings the character to life by sidestepping sensationalism and building with small behavioral details. Read full review
100
TimeRichard Schickel
The result is mainstream moviemaking at its highest, most satisfying level.
90
New Times (L.A.)Robert Wilonsky
It's everything most movies this year have not been: deeply felt, genuine, gracious. Read full review
90
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Sadly, Howard blands out in the final third, using old-age makeup and tear-jerking to turn a tough true story into something easily digestible. Until then, you'll be riveted. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
So many things come together so beautifully in this movie based on the life of John Forbes Nash Jr. that you're likely to find yourself willing to benignly overlook its occasional biographical lapses and narrative sweetening. Read full review
88
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Gripping, smart and moving, without falling prey to sentimentality, it shows what can be achieved when mainstream filmmakers like Howard and Goldsman are genuinely inspired and determined to be honest. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Howard has never been so grown-up in his handling of tough themes or so inventive in depicting states of mind. Goldsman has never been so down-to-earth or created so touching a character. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The kind of expression of emotion that touches a deeper chord. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike Clark
This is one inspiring movie despite extremely tricky subject matter -- better than "Shine" and among the most affecting ever made about co-existing with mental demons. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Though the role might seem a real stretch for an actor who just won an Oscar for his Charlton Heston turn as Maximus in "Gladiator," he and the movie ace the test. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeJay Carr
The film makes more apparent than ever that Howard is quite underrated as a filmmaker, possibly because he's been hidden in full view in the mainstream for so long.
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Crowe sometimes summons up one of the most powerful depictions of mental illness I have ever seen with barely an eyelid flicker separating manifestations of sickness from utterly sane displays of creative concentration. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's an absorbing, progressively unsettling and ultimately very inspiring biographical reflection that, in the interest of creating its subject's internal landscape, plays some chilling tricks on its audience. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
As Nash gets closer to Crowe's own age (and level of dissipation), the performance settles down and becomes first credible and then overwhelming. This is a stupendous piece of acting. Read full review
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Consistently engrossing as an unusual character study and as a trip to the mysterious border-crossing between rarified brilliance and madness, this serious-minded but lively film is distinguished by an exceptional performance by Russell Crowe. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Crowe astounds with his technical skill. [7 Jan 2002, p. 82]
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
A greatly ambitious undertaking, but from the commercial point of view quite insane. The movie is ridiculously fragile: It's like a Faberge egg, and even a twitch of foreknowledge will destroy the magic of the movie utterly. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
Director Ron Howard's deftness in suggesting the subjective experience of Crowe's character, who's later diagnosed with schizophrenia, makes for inspirational narrative. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
What began as a bold and thrilling story descends into Hollywood cliché. But Crowe and Connelly's work rises above the mush. They make A Beautiful Mind go. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
This is another brilliant performance by Crowe, who is to body language what Meryl Streep is to accents. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Howard, and the screenwriter, Akiva Goldsman, have used the book as nothing more than their jumping-off point for an erratic work of fiction that's part mystery thriller and part Hollywood schmaltz.
60
L.A. WeeklyJohn Powers
While I don't doubt that Howard's done the best he can, it's sad to see a beautiful mind whittled down by such a plain one. Read full review
60
Village VoiceDennis Lim
It's doubly frustrating that after flirting with (and even upending) biopic conventions for much of its length, A Beautiful Mind finally gives in to them so readily. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
There is more to admire in A Beautiful Mind than you might suspect, but less than its creators believe. When the film does succeed, it almost seems to do so despite itself. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The success of this effect, which helps elevate the movie above a classy disease-of-the-week saga, rests firmly on Russell Crowe's performance, and it's a strikingly good and moving one. Read full review
60
The New York TimesDana Stevens
The movie can -- indeed, should -- be intellectually rejected, but you can't quite banish it from your mind. Read full review
50
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Instead of an originally conceived movie that reflects Nash's troubled but brilliant mind, we have one of those formulaically rendered Important Subject movies -- the kind that seem exclusively designed for Best Picture nominations. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
While it's a splendidly acted film, A Beautiful Mind is also a wasted opportunity. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Crowe understands what's interesting about Nash: He's not a feel-good figure. It's a pity the same can't be said for Howard. Read full review
40
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Too facile to resonate deeply. Shouldn't a movie celebrating Nash give you some idea what his mathematical work is about? Fishier still is the suggestion that the cure for paranoid schizophrenia is love.
30
Film ThreatRon Wells
Aside from all the known material on public record the filmmakers chose not to use, Howard isn't even capable of believably bringing this off. Read full review
20
SalonCharles Taylor
It's not just our emotions that are being played on here, it's not just our intelligence being insulted because of Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman's presumption that we won't have any interest in a character whom it's not always possible to like. It's John Nash's life, being turned into an Oscar machine and an easy way to jerk tears. Read full review
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