SNMR 1.14: "{proof}"

The second of our SNMR double feature weekend is "{proof}" (2005, PG-13, 99 minutes), starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hope Davis and Danny McCarthy. The film was directed by John Madden.

This is another DVD that I bought when it came out and have not watched until tonight. I bought this movie solely becasue Gwyneth Paltrow has long been one of my favorite actresses. She's again teamed up with John Madden, under whose direction she won the 1998 Oscar for Best Actress for Shakespeare in Love. Paltrow is reprising the role of Catherine that she played on stage in London's West End. This movie is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

From the DVD's dust jacket:

From the acclaimed director of Shakespeare in Love, Proof stars Oscar winners Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins (Best Actor, The Silence of the Lambs, 1991), along with Hope Davis (About Schmidt) and Jake Gyllenhaal (Jarhead). It's a powerful story of a young woman haunted by her father's past and the shadow of her own future. Catherine (Paltrow) has devoted years to caring for her brilliant but mentally unstable father, Robert (Hopkins), a mathematical genius. But when his genius slips away, he leaves behind a mystery that affects her life... and her own sanity.

I didn't hate this movie, but didn't love it either. What bothered me about this movie was the shifting through time from one scene to the next, not really sure right away if you were in the present moment or in a flashback sequence. While I was watching this film I wondered how it looked on stage in the theater, and how much changed from the stage to the screen. Some scenes I thought could have been left out without affecting the story, or perhaps handled in a different way. I didn't like the character of Claire (Hope Davis) because she was whiny and annoying. But maybe that was the point of the charachter. The writing was uneven. I think the premise was good but sometimes had nowhere to go. While this was not Paltrow's best work, it certainly wasn't her worst, either. I'll give this film 2 1/2 out of five stars.