A Beautiful Mind (2001)

This is a great film.
Here, John Nash (Russell Crowe) is 'attending' Princeton. I use that word loosely because John doesn't attend classes. He's a mathematical genius and thinks classes are beneath him. He is a smart-alack and  horrible to be around. When trying to pick up a woman (though his friends have set him up for failure), he says, basically, let's just awesome that I've said everything needed to have sex. She stares at him and then he compares sex to just a simple exchange of bodily fluids. She slaps him. Which he deserves.
He also gets a roommate, Charles Herman (Paul Bettany) who is his only real friend and tells him that one of his early teachers told him that born with two brains but only half a helping of heart, which is basically accurate. But John needs a breakthrough so he can get a good placement. Finally he has a breakthrough, with the help of his friends trying to attract a blonde, with this, he disproves a century old theory and gets a job at MIT and occasionally is called into work at the Pentagon. While here, William Parcher (Ed Harris) enters his life and gives him secret missions to mine through magazines to find codes to locate a bomb. Also while teaching one of his classes (his co-workers finally get him to teach one of the classes he's supposed to), a young student catches his eye. Her name is Alicia (Jennifer Connelly) and for whatever reason (surely not because he's a pig) she's likewise attracted to him. They get married, despite the odds. John does become a better person around her, but his secret mission is becoming more dangerous and even involves a shoot-out. He starts to withdraw from his wife. He begs Parcher to let him out of the mission but Parcher says that's impossible because if he leaves, then the Soviets will be after him. John orders Alicia to go stay at her sister's. Alicia becomes concerned; she calls a doctor and after a lecture, John (convinced that the doctors are Soviets), is taken to a mental hospital by the order of Dr. Rosen (Christopher Plummer). Upon arriving here, the viewer learns that they have been lied to. Charles Herman (and his niece Marcy [Vivien Cardone]) and Parcher are fictitious, created by the crazy mind of Nash. He is in reality, mentally-ill. Schizophrenia. After some shock therapy, he is placed on medication and life moves on. Alicia has their baby, who is never named and they return to Princeton. But his genius is gone, the medication has muddled his brain. He can't come up with anything Earth shattering. He can't take care of the baby and he can't have sex with his wife. Here comes Connelly's best scene, where she goes into the bathroom and throws her cup of water against the wall.
John's every move is being watched. He can't even take the trash out without Alicia worrying. She doesn't believe that he was talking to the trash man. It isn't until Alicia sees the trash man that she believes him. Then, John decides to stop taking his medication, but the results are devastating. Believing that Charles is watching the baby, the poor thing nearly drowns and then Parcher appears and threatens to shoot Alicia because she knows too much. To protect her, John pushes Parcher out of the way, but he hits Alicia instead. She and the baby get into the car and head out to her mother's. Then John has a revelation. "Marcy can't be real, she doesn't grow." Which is true.
John wants to work out his illness by himself, without medical intervention. He does tell Alicia to go to her mother's because it isn't safe her for here, which is true, though she doesn't go. He literally has to tell his imaginary friends good-bye, and slowly starts to ignore them. Over time, he builds his life back together, thanks to the help of his wife and friend, Hansen (Josh Lucas), he eventually returns to teaching, because he thinks that there is still some good left in him. He develops more formulas and, after some time, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Upon accepting the award, he delivers a heartfelt speech demonstrating just how much his wife truly means to him. He does have a beautiful mind, but thinks a beautiful heart would be more valuable. He's probably right.
The film is filled with good performances with Crowe and Connelly as stand-outs. Connelly fully deserved her Oscar and Crowe deserved more than his nomination as he was better here than in Gladiator, which actually won him the award.  Roger Deakins had brilliant cinematography along with the wonderful aging make-up, turning Crowe into a convincing old man. True, the film isn't historically accurate, but what film in Hollywood is. I can forgive that because the film, despite having a somewhat despicable character in the lead, turning the viewer toward something extremely stirring. The time spent is not even close to being wasted. Grade: A