I Did Not See What I Had Expected To See

I was rather disappointed after watching the film. I kept feeling that something had just started to build up and then it was dropped. I thought it would have a deeper story, but the plots turned out pretty flat in my point of view.

The Synopsis
Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) is grieving for the death of her father, Robert (Anthony Hopkins), a greatly admired mathematician. She possesses her father's talent, but she is also frightened that she will follow his path and lose her mind. She finally opens her heart to one of her father’s former students Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal) by showing a piece of proof to him. Nevertheless, this causes a debate on whether this is the work of Robert or Catherine. Neither Hal nor Catherine's own sister Claire (Hope Davis) believes that it could have been Catherine's work. Out of disappointment, Catherine decides to leave Chicago and move to New York with Claire. But as they are leaving the house...

Lack of Power and Passion
I love math, and I love movies with deep stories. I had thought this movie would be like that, but it wasn't. I didn't expect there to be demonstrations of really complex mathematical proofs, and I thought it was exciting when Catherine and Robert debated using math. However, there was never anything stunning, not like the way John Nash (Russell Crowe) speaks of his theories in A Beautiful Mind. I don't see the same power or passion in her character. It's like she possesses the talent but she does not really love it or embrace it. She isn't crazy about math and I think in some ways she is trying to avoid it so she does not "go crazy" like her father. I cannot relate to that. I think math is the most beautiful manipulation the human race came up with. Even if everyone else thinks you are crazy, so what?

The movie kept building up on her grief about her father and how she kept seeing him in her head, but then it turned into a debate on who did the work for a breaking proof. It was pretty clear to me who did the work. So I don't even think the audience needs to guess anything and there is no twist. Then it's the end of the story with a Hollywood style. To me, that is really flat and not deep at all.

Slightly Confusing Scene Transitions
There are a lot of flash-backs in the movie, and of course a lot of illusions because Catherine sees her father in her head. The transition of the scenes isn't really that clear to me. I eventually figured out whether it was "current" or "past" after 30 seconds or a minute into the scenes. But it is a little annoying because I felt like I had to catch up.

The Casts
They had a great group of people. Gwyneth Paltrow presented Catherine as a dedicated daughter and an intelligent person, who may be a little lost at times. Hope Davis portrayed a sister who really wants to help but doesn't quite get it. Anthony Hopkins showed the image of a loving father who tried to pull himself together, but his temper could suddenly burst with no warning. Jake Gyllenhaal suited his role because of his geeky and jumpy look (and I don't mean it in a bad way), although he did not give me a trustable feeling, even in the end.

DVD Special Features
There are only 3 Deleted Scenes, and they are rather mediocre. I am fine with them being deleted from the movie. The commentary was somewhat interesting. The director (John Madden) spoke of quite a few comparisons between the stage play version and the movie version of the story, and talked about other miscellaneous story about Gwyneth Paltrow and other actors/actresses. The commentary also helped me understand more about why he crafted certain scenes that way.

All in All
Maybe this is a movie for people who don't like math. Because if you do, you will get disappointed at the story and Catherine's attitude. I cannot help wondering if this story is better presented in a stage play format instead of a movie. In a movie, scenes are bluntly presented in front of the audience. But in a stage play, the actors/actresses will have to work harder on presenting the emotions and inspiring the audience's imaginations. Maybe that is where I will see more passion.

Footnote: Negative First Impression
At the very beginning of the movie, you will hear some background noises (TV commercials). For the most part, the name of the advertisers were cut off, so you can guess who they were but you don't actually know. However, for RE/MAX, their name was mentioned several times, loud and clear. It created a very negative first impression for me, and I wondered how much RE/MAX paid them to advertise like that. But, this really has nothing to do with the movie. It is my personal pet peeve. This did not affect my rating of the film.