‘Proof’ proves nothing

Expectations can color attitudes. Critics are not immune. I had so

looked forward to “Proof.” You know, the limited engagement hype, the

trailers that ran months before the movie appeared, the beckoning

call of a movie about mathematics which might mean that here -- at

last in this year of unmemorable movies -- we are offered something

that would leave us with more than 97 minutes of

bottom-in-plush-seat.

Then there was the enticing call of names that promise greatness

-- Anthony Hopkins, Hope Davis, Jake Gyllenhaal, and, yes, even the

much-touted Gwyneth Paltrow.

That there was so much in “Proof” to ponder, so many finely drawn

points, makes it all the sadder that it failed. There may not have

been much director John Madden or screenwriters David Auburn (in

conjunction with author of the book, Rebecca Miller), could do to

make them more charismatic. After all, one of the premises of the

movie is that there is a fine line between psychotic and normal.

I loved how the film juxtaposed Paltrow’s character’s brilliance

and psychological uncertainty against her sister who was absorbed

with the absurdities of modern life like jojoba shampoo and

Starbucks. Here was a woman -- like many of us -- certain about her

own sanity in spite of her passion for the inane. She was also

insanely sure that her sister was crazy and not all that brilliant

after all.

All of the actors were required to play characters who were either

mad, thought they were crazy, or were, well, idiosyncratic. Therein

lies the problem.

Together they play annoying. Paltrow’s character does whine,

monotone and that other-worldly gaze so well, we couldn’t get a

glimpse of why she would appeal to Gyllenhaal’s character, who was

supposed to be a sort of with-it geek; he plays in a band and is only

a so-so mathematician by genius standards.

Gyllenhaal might have livened the movie, but he, too, seemed

obsessed with portraying his mathematician as nerdy.

Hopkins had some great moments, as could be expected, and even

some lively ones but they weren’t frequent enough to offer respite

from down, depressed and disheartened.

We don’t necessarily search out fine film to be made happy. I

think we can ask, however, not to be annoyed. In order to present

something of substance to the movie-going public, it isn’t necessary

to be so tiresome.

I keep asking myself, could the movie really be as tedious as it

seemed or was it those expectations.

REEL FACTOID

Based on a stage play, “Proof” stars actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who

reprises the role of Catherine that she played on stage in London’s

West End.

* CAROLYN HOWARD-JOHNSON, a Glendale author, sees a minimum of

three movies a week.