When it counts, Proof wins points for subtlety and keeping its answers closer to the chest.
Proof (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:130
Fresh:82
Rotten:48
Average Rating:6.5/10
Consensus: Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins give exceptional performances in a film that intelligently tackles the territory between madness and genius.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for some sexual content, language and drug references.
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Sep 16, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $7,468,700
Synopsis: Gwyneth Paltrow, who won an Oscar for her performance in director John Madden's SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, teams up again with Madden in PROOF, a poignant drama based on David Auburn's Pulitzer... Gwyneth Paltrow, who won an Oscar for her performance in director John Madden's SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, teams up again with Madden in PROOF, a poignant drama based on David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Paltrow lights up the screen as Catherine, a young woman who has given up a seemingly bright future in order to take care of her ailing father, Robert (Anthony Hopkins), a formerly brilliant mathematician who went crazy. After he dies, Catherine's closed-off world is invaded by Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal), a young mathematician who worshipped Robert, and Claire (Hope Davis), her successful sister who fears that Catherine is too much like their father--a talented, supremely intelligent person with severe mental problems. During the last years of his life, Robert filled 103 notebooks with his writings, but one of them, written during a brief period of lucidity, could turn the math world on its head, while also threatening Catherine's already wavering sanity. Auburn co-wrote the screenplay with Rebecca Miller (PERSONAL VELOCITY, THE BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE), taking it off the stage, setting it in and around Chicago, and breathing new life into the story, along with Stephen Warbeck's compelling score and plenty of outstanding acting, particularly by the glowing Paltrow and the earnest Gyllenhaal. [More]
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hope Davis
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hope Davis, Gary Houston, Colin Stinton, Roshan Seth
Director: John Madden, James D. Stern
Director: John Madden
Screenwriter: Rebecca Miller
Producer: Jeff Sharp, John N. Hart, Robert Kessel, Alison Owen, Bob Weinstein
Director: James D. Stern
Composer: Stephen Warbeck
Screenwriter: David Auburn
Studio: Miramax Films
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Reviews for Proof
The delights are in the details, and in the way the convoluted story unfolds by bits and pieces.
..."tasteful" is probably the operative word for the entire thing. It's hard to fault anybody's work here. If there is a problem, it is an insubstantiality in the source material...
The freedom film affords has allowed Auburn and co-writer Rebecca Miller (The Ballad of Jack and Rose) to open up the material and, remarkably, deepen it, adding a layer of pathos to Catherine's angst.
offers a convincing demonstration of the theorem that good writing and sensitive performances can equal an engaging and nuanced piece of cinema.
Madden does a competent job transferring the film from stage to screen.
You leave the theater appreciative of the movie’s dramatic yield, but not truly swept up in reverie. The way most of us feel about middle and high school math, I guess.
A decent film that...remains married to its words and bound to its limited sets.
Once you get past that golden swag and curtain of hair, Paltrow's performance is devastating, cutting to the pith and marrow of parent-child relations.
If you know nothing about differential equations or prime number theories, well you’re probably not alone, but it won’t affect your ability to appreciate this movie.
Intelligent middlebrow entertainment with a few juicy roles to feed talented actors.
The play, with all of its key surprises and biting exchanges intact, is up there on the screen. But given the depth and fascinating pull of Auburn's writing, that's a good thing.
Hopkins, his hair and beard gone white, unravels with gorgeous precision.
Its themes of trust, the depth of filial responsibility and concerns about genetic inheritances are explored with depth and intelligence.
Proof is a winning drama that oscillates with confidence and emotional tension.
So few movies even attempt to engage viewers in a conversation this deep that I'm ready to celebrate Paltrow and forgive many of the film's other flaws.
Although it probably worked a lot better on the stage... Proof is an intriguing story.
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