Russell Crowe gives another Oscar worthy performance and Jennifer Connelly has officially arrived.

Who knew that the man who directed "The Grinch", the man who starred in "Gladiator" and a woman who once headlined a movie called "Career Opportunities" would join one another and gives us one of the best pictures of the year.

Ron Howard takes off his feel good gloves and gives us a true story of John Nash, a genius mathematician who just so happened to also be a schizophrenic. This movie is not just a story about a man with a disease, this is a film that keeps you on your toes as a viewer from start to finish.

Russell Crowe plays Nash, and plays him well. He takes us on a 30 year journey of the mans life and lets us inside and outside of his head. Crowe who won the Best Actor Oscar in 2000 for his role in "Gladiator" and who was nominated in 1999 for his role in "The Insider" should easily make it three years in a row for this film.

We first meet Nash when he is a graduate student at Princeton. He seems normal, well as normal as any genius is. You always hear the story of the true geniuses being a little off kilter, well in little time we find that Nash was more than a little of center. We also learn that Nash is so advanced at mathematics that the Government hires him to do some code breaking.

This is where this nice little drama about a man and his problems becomes a tight little thriller with guessing games of who can you trust. Ed Harris delivers another one of his excellent performances as a member of the Department of Defense who needs Nash's help to break some Russian codes to find a missing bomb that could be headed for the states.

Nash then meets the woman of his dreams, Alicia, played by Jennifer Connelly, who with this job should now be getting plenty of work and awards. Connelly has been around for quite some time but is now just coming into he prime as an actress. If she impresses you in this film, watch her in last years "Requiem for a Dream" and prepare to be blown away.

Howard, Crowe and Connelly give us a look into the life and times of a man who has gone from brilliant mathematician to certified nut job to Nobel prize winner and someone who shows that with a will there's a way. And with the love of a good woman, a man can achieve anything he sets his mind to.