SnoopyStyle Catherine Llewellyn (Gwyneth Paltrow) is struggling to deal with the death of her genius math professor father Robert (Anthony Hopkins). He deteriorated mentally in his last years which forced her to quit school and take care of him. His former student Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal) is working through a mountain of Robert's incoherent notebooks to find anything worth saving. Catherine's sister Claire (Hope Davis) arrives for the funeral and seeks to bring Catherine back to New York for treatment. When Hal discovers a notebook filled with a ground-breaking math proof, Catherine claims it to be written by her.This is a compelling portrayal of the mathematical obsession. It's not as flashy or romantic as cinema tries to dress up math sometimes. It is a bit sad. Paltrow does great work following Hopkins. She shows that she's not simply a romantic lead. It's a compelling character study.

sddavis63 Don't expect this to be uplifting. It has a kind of romance involved with it - one that's even a bit touching in some ways - and it has a few scenes that cause you to chuckle, but by and large this is a pretty sombre, downcast movie that deals mostly with mental illness (not a happy subject) and mathematics (not an exciting subject - at least not to me.) But what it has going for it is Gwyneth Paltrow, and even if you find the movie a bit of a downer (as I admit I did) you can't ever let your eyes wander off the screen because of Paltrow's performance. She was brilliant. I can't say that I've been a devoted follower of hers. I liked her in "Shakespeare In Love" and to be perfectly honest nothing else she's done really stands out for me. But I can't imagine she's offered a better performance in anything than she did in "Proof." She was called upon to portray a whole range of emotions and she did so with complete authenticity. In fact, if there's a word that could be applied to this, it might be just that - authentic. It felt real.As Catherine, Paltrow has been the caregiver to her mentally ill father, played by Anthony Hopkins, who in his past had been a brilliant mathematician. The question we have right from the start - and it follows through the whole movie - is how much of her father Catherine has inherited - both in terms of his brilliance and in terms of his mental illness. Catherine does come across as a bit unbalanced to be honest. She's isolated and withdrawn; she's unhappy; she has no friends. There are various scenes in the movie that cause you to wonder if she's really in touch with reality. But does that mean she's mentally ill? Not necessarily. It might actually be expected of someone who's literally had no life beyond caring for her father. But there comes a point (and we don't reach it until near the movie's end) when we start to wonder if she's ill, if she's normal - or if she's brilliant. And in the midst of it all she has to deal with the aftermath of her father's death, the attempt by her sister (Hope Davis) to take control of her life, and a budding if apprehensive romance with one of her father's former students (Jake Gyllenhaal.) It was a powerful performance, and the main supporting cast, who I've mentioned, did a fine job as well. But they were the supporting cast. This was Paltrow's movie. And it was a good thing she was brilliant.The movie itself didn't do a lot for me. As I said, it was sombre and downcast and even in the end it was hard to really tell if Catherine had achieved redemption. At best, there was the possibility of redemption. And there is the satisfaction of seeing Catherine choose to escape her sister's clutches, but - again - it's left as an open question whether that decision led to any happiness for her. But Paltrow's performance carries this, and if she can't make this a great movie, she can make it a movie worth watching. (6/10)

Python Hyena Proof (2005): Dir: John Madden / Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hope Davis, Leigh Zimmerman: Intense yet provocative film about state of being. Anthony Hopkins plays a mathematical genius who gradually slips into insanity while under the care of his daughter, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. After his death she questions her own state of mind as a student researches her father's journals in order to understand their meaning. Engaging premise that become a series of arguments. Director John Madden worked with Paltrow in the engaging yet overrated Shakespeare in Love. This time he switches gears and receives a much more defined performance from Paltrow who struggles to maintain a sense of identity. Hopkins is commanding in flashbacks showcasing his madness. Jake Gyllenhaal tries to unscramble Hopkins's journals but he also falls within the film's one central weakness and that is its hinted innuendo between he and Paltrow. Hope Davis plays Paltrow's protective sister who begins to question her sanity and the chance that she may follow in her father's footsteps. Outside the leads there is minor characters that occupy very little screen time until it gets to the plot points. Very well made drama with strong casting and a reason for being. It regards how heredity can shape our lifestyle less we break the cycle. Score: 6 ½ / 10

willmurphy6663-932-794083 Hi I've read a lot of the reviews and i can see why most people like this film. its story area may have been touched on in a beautiful mind and good will hunting, but it takes a different slant on it. AnthonyHopkins is a maths genius but becomes mentally unwell and looses hispowers mathematically. He has two daughters the youngest of which is Gwyneth Paltrow who stays behind to look after him. This costs her and she becomes trapped by him though they connect mentally through mathematics. After his death the elder sister comes back: there is agood take on mental health here because she is very controlling and undermining but would see herself as well strong and here to look afterher sister. The other main character play by Jake G. is a ray of sunshine to me (some have found in unrealistic in their reviews) and the scene is set for a well acted film with a good script...