Proof 2005

Christine Dolen, Miami Herald: 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. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The story's genial unpretentiousness has been darkened and weighed down, and what's left is less than prime. Read more

Misha Berson, Seattle Times: A respectable but mild, drab little film. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Somewhere in the translation from stage to screen, David Auburn's powerful Pulitzer Prize-winning play was transformed into a goopy Gwyneth Paltrow movie. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: [Paltrow is] great in this. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Miscast yet marvelous, Paltrow and the rest of the cast hold you to the movie, even when you intuitively sense something is lacking. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Madden stages the action with a minimum of imagination and gets a career-worst performance out of Davis in a key role, but the material still sputters to life on the strength of the writing and Paltrow's commitment to the part. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Madden does a competent job transferring the film from stage to screen. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Proof that you can drain most of the juice out of a play and still have an enjoyable night at the movies. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: [Paltrow's] is a performance that redeems everything else about this film, and allows for the hope that there will be many more to come in this gifted actress' career. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Few movies regard the psyche with such sober discernment. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: In Proof, [Paltrow] seems to be drawing upon a fund of real pain and it does wonders for the film. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: Flattened onto the screen ... everybody always seems to be saying exactly the wrong thing to poor Gwyneth, which gives her the right to be insufferable. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's hard to quarrel with the way Proof depicts mathematical genius as an unknowable abstraction. Otherwise, we might need advanced degrees to watch it. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Intelligent middlebrow entertainment with a few juicy roles to feed talented actors. Read more

Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly: Hopkins, his hair and beard gone white, unravels with gorgeous precision. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Proof, the movie, is alive and sulking. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Proof is like its own page of badly done math homework. It shows all work, all right. But it feels cribbed from an answer sheet. And it never proves a thing. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: Although she tends to get actressy in her work, Paltrow's Catherine is a believable portrait of loss and grief. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: The delights are in the details, and in the way the convoluted story unfolds by bits and pieces. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Gwyneth Paltrow plays the daughter of a famous dead mathematician in John Maddens terribly serious film adaptation of the much-admired Broadway play. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Proof is a stirring motion picture that challenges our views on a great many things about life, some of which we take for granted. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: An extraordinary thriller about matters of scholarship and the heart, about the true authorship of a mathematical proof and the passions that coil around it. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Those who didn't see the theatrical production (myself among them) might be left wondering if the material looked this phony on stage. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The story's emotional stakes are such a grab bag that it's difficult to feel much urgency about the outcome. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: The result, like so many stout travellers from stage to screen, is respectable. Stolidly, bloodlessly, yawningly respectable. Read more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: The emotional heft of Proof is considerable, even with some problems inadequately worked out. Read more

Wally Hammond, Time Out: Sadly, the impact of the clever parallelogram of emotional and philosophical concerns in Auburn and Rebecca Miller's screenplay is deadened by the director's overly literal -- mechanical -- cinematic interpretation. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Its themes of trust, the depth of filial responsibility and concerns about genetic inheritances are explored with depth and intelligence. Read more

David Rooney, Variety: An elegant, intelligent drama of a breed increasingly rare in mainstream American movies. Read more

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: John Madden's competent, monotonous film version, not exactly stagebound but hardly freewheeling, only underscores its mechanical nature. Read more

Nelson Pressley, Washington Post: Paltrow is pretty commanding, even if Madden pushes things toward airlessness by keeping the camera so tight. The anguish on that lovely, haggard face -- you're right there with her, yearning for the moment you both can finally breathe. Read more