If A Beautiful Mind wins one Oscar, it will be a complete tragedy. This BORING, SLOW, DULL film may whet the appetites of Academy members, but audiences have literally fallen asleep at theatres.

Jennifer Connelly, normally an amazingly gifted screen presence, phoned-in her performance. And whoever did her "old lady" make-up at the end of the film should be banished to infomercials.

Russell Crowe was better in "The Insider" (so was his make-up)and if he gets the Oscar for this film, it's only because of "name recognition." Voters seem to champion an actor for role after role simply because he's a hot commodity (witness Tom Hanks' Oscar run).

And don't even get me started on the lame plot of the film. Oops, too late. Haven't we seen the real person/dead person/hallucination thing enough already? And better? Fight Club and Sixth Sense used this trick with much better aplomb.

A typical studio picture with little or no depth, A Beautiful Mind is a waste of time and an insult to serious film buffs everywhere.