Catherine is a woman in her late twenties who is strongly devoted to her father, Robert, a brilliant and well-known mathematician whose grip on reality is beginning to slip away. As Robert descends into madness, Catherine begins to wonder if she may have inherited her father's mental illness along with his mathematical genius.
The result, like so many stout travellers from stage to screen, is respectable. Stolidly, bloodlessly, yawningly respectable.
– Rick Groen,
Globe and Mail,
30 Sep 2005
fresh:
Few movies regard the psyche with such sober discernment.
– Amy Biancolli,
Houston Chronicle,
1 Oct 2005
fresh:
Madden does a competent job transferring the film from stage to screen.
– Bill Muller,
Arizona Republic,
24 Dec 2005
rotten:
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.
– Wally Hammond,
Time Out,
9 Feb 2006
fresh:
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.