THE MAJESTIC

Directed by Frank Darabont

Starring Jim Carrey and Laurie Holden

A BEAUTIFUL MIND

Directed by Ron Howard

Starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly

and Ed Harris

Both films playing at CineMark 12 in Hadley

December is, and always will be, the most highly competitive time for movies, for the sole reason of Academy Awards consideration. For some, the Oscars are only a pipe dream, as they fall short of lofty Academy standards. For others, the Oscars are a real possibility, as are placements on year-end best-of lists. Studios try to capitalize and invariably run into the same roadblock – there’s no way to predict Oscar success.

The Majestic, a corny, would-be Frank Capra period fantasy, would have us believe it has viability because it is a sentimental, feel-good film. But this isn’t sentimentality; it’s syrup – a gooey, sticky glop that drowns everything in sugar. Like Pay It Forward, it demonstrates that just because a movie is nice, it doesn’t mean it’s going to be good. The Majestic is so sugary that diabetics should avoid it for fear of insulin shock.

Jim Carrey plays Peter Appleton, a minor Hollywood screenwriter who’s celebrating the release of his first movie. But just as his newest project, intended to boost him into the A-list, is about to start production he’s called before the House Un-American Activities Committee on suspicion of communism. Blacklisted from Hollywood, a drunk Appleton drives his car off a bridge into a river. He wakes on the bank with no memory of who he is or how he got there.

A kindly old man brings him into the town of Lawson to rest. Lawson has been grieving ever since the war, where it lost 62 of its young men. Harry Trimble (Martin Landau), the owner of the dilapidated Majestic theatre, recognizes Appleton as his missing son Luke. The town, which seems to be filled with folks who are nothing but folksy, embrace Peter as Luke and celebrate his return. Peter (Luke?) is skeptical of his identity, but the kindliness of Lawson’s residents is seductive – as is Luke’s lovely, equally skeptical girlfriend Adele (feature newcomer Laurie Holden, a fixture on “The X-Files”). Only a fool couldn’t see where this is going.

The Majestic comes with an Oscar caliber background. This is director Frank Darabont’s third film; his previous two movies, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, were both best picture nominees. Carrey, who has proven himself to be a remarkably subtle dramatic actor, is deserving of an Oscar (though not in this role). But it’s impossible to muster enthusiasm for a remake of a Hallmark card.

Darabont, Carrey and writer Michael Sloane have repeatedly said The Majestic is intended to capture the feel of a Capra film. But Capra would never have made a movie this slushy. Darabont ladles on the lead weight platitudes. The sloppy, tooth-rotting schmaltziness of the film is underscored by Mark Isham’s overbearing score that swells with emotion every time someone speaks. The honey-glazed cinematography of David Tattersall doesn’t help.

Carrey gives a gentle, but unrounded performance – it’s sadly reactive rather than proactive. Holden shows real star potential. The Majestic stirs up its only real emotion in a climactic, if illogical, confrontation between Peter and the HUAC committee. Even then, a smart person can write it off as a result of post-9/11 patriotic fervor.

Ron Howard’s moving, intelligent A Beautiful Mind has more potential for Oscar success. It’s based on the inspiring true story of John Forbes Nash, Jr., a brilliant mathematician who fought off schizophrenia to win the Nobel Prize.

In all honesty, A Beautiful Mind is only inspired by the true story. Adapted from Sylvia Nasar’s 1998 bio, the movie often plays loose with actual facts, condensing or eliminating real events. But if the movie doesn’t retain fealty to the truth, it does still present one of the most harrowing and thoughtful looks at mental illness in cinema.

Russell Crowe is brilliant in his portrayal of Nash; this could be the best work of his career. Nash begins as a cocksure loner at Princeton in 1947, who shirks classes in his search for an “original idea” that will lend him notoriety. His discovery eschewed 150 years of previous thought and forever changed the way we thought of economic game theory (economists still use his findings to this day).

After becoming a reluctant teacher, Nash meets a beautiful student named Alicia (Jennifer Connelly, who should be launched onto the A-list) who is attracted to Nash and makes it her mission to get him to come out of his socially awkward shell. Nash is soon recruited by Department of Defense spook William Parcher (Ed Harris) to be a code breaker during the height of the Cold War. But the demands of his “job” and the constant threat of danger eventually begin to take their toll on Nash.

A Beautiful Mind, which oddly shares themes with those in Vanilla Sky and Mulholland Drive, is not a straight biography, but a drama about one man’s heroic struggle with mental illness, and one woman’s fight for her man. Crowe will get a third nomination for his performance, subtle and touching where other actors would veer over the top. Connelly is equally good, and will also be nominated. She’s smart enough not to rely on her beauty, and gives a performance of stunning depth, heart and soul. The romance between Nash and Alicia is one of the most lovely of the year.

Howard is best known as a director of mainstream, blockbuster films. He has made good, serious movies before (Apollo 13), but he’s come off a bad stint that includes the plastic Ed TV and the soulless, ugly How The Grinch Stole Christmas. A Beautiful Mind is his most complex, emotionally resonant film to date. A date at the Oscars would not be an ugly thing.