I watched Proof, and it was ok. It was average, but was clearly aiming much higher. I have trouble watching movies with the subtitles on, because I can’t help reading the giant yellow text before the line is actually delivered. It really emphasizes the fact that what I’m watching is not real. But, Jen insists on them, so I will have to deal with it. Maybe this is why I like to watch movies more than once. Sometimes I don’t get it all on the first run through, and like to watch it again to catch things I might have missed. I find I miss very little with the subtitles on, and in fact sometimes I find I’m reacting to what the characters have to say even before they say it.

Anyway, the movie itself was playing on the tension between brilliance and insanity. Gwenyth Paltrow’s character was the daughter of a revolutionary mathematician (Anthony Hopkins) who went insane in his twenties. Everyone around her doubted her state of mind. Even she was beginning to think she might be crazy. She inherited her father’s mathematical mind, so she was worried she’d inherited his mental illness too. I was sympathetic towards her because if I had to cope with caring for a crazy old man for five years and deal with a ultra-controlling older sister, I’d probably lose my cool a few times too.

Overall, it was not bad, but not great either. For a much better movie about a crazy mathematician, see A Beautiful Mind instead.