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Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hope Davis, Anthony Hopkins, Roshan Seth ... see more see more... , Gary Houston , Anne Wittman , Colin Stinton , Danny McCarthy , Leigh Zimmerman , Tobiasz Daszkiewicz

A woman struggles to come to terms with the potentially dangerous legacy of her late father in this drama based on the award-winning stage play by David Auburn. Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a woman ... read more read more...in her late twenties who is strongly devoted to her father, Robert (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant and well-known mathematician. While Robert's skill in the world of numbers still appears to be strong, his grip on reality begins to slip away, and as Robert descends into madness, Catherine begins to wonder if she may have inherited her father's mental illness along with his mathematical genius. After Robert's passing, Catherine is confronted by Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal), a gifted but zealous student of Robert's who wants to look through the late man's notes in hopes of finding his last great work. While Catherine is hesitant to look too deeply into her father's work for fear of what it might suggest about her own future, she allows Hal to do so, and when one notebook reveals a mathematical proof of potentially historic proportions, it sets off shock waves in more ways than one. Proof also stars Hope Davis as Catherine's well-meaning but shallow sister, who doubts Catherine's ability to take care of herself. Paltrow had previously played Catherine to stellar reviews during the original play's run in London's West End. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

56% liked it

86,838 ratings

Critics

63% liked it

139 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 40 min.

Directed by: John Madden

Release Date: September 16, 2005

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DVD Release Date: February 14, 2006

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Stats: 2,985 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,985)

  • jennifxu
    July 30, 2011
    jennifxu
    I cried when Jake Gyllenhaal didn't believe that Gwyneth Paltrow wrote the proof. So sue me. It was sad.

    I love that you don't know where this movie is going until it gets there. I turned cold when Gwyneth Paltrow read out Anthony Hopkins' "proof."
  • rjayhutchinson
    July 18, 2011
    rjayhutchinson
    This film has so much going for it. Gwyneth Paltrow plays the lead role, Anthony Hopkins is a minor, but important, supporting character, and the premise has tons of potential. This film wants so bad to be "A Beautiful Mind", but it has some serious problems with the direction it... read mores plot moves. Everything about the story begs for less Jake Gyllenhaal, who wasn't bad, and Hope Davis, who was awful every time she was on screen. Their characters are given far too much focus. Paltrow's character, the ostensibly interesting, complex protagonist, is still a mystery to the viewer by the end of the film. The story begs to go in one direction but the plot strays away. It's not a *bad* film, but it's certainly not a good one. I didn't love "A Beautful Mind", but at least that film had a good idea of how this type of story needs to be told.
  • StarCrossedVoyager
    February 4, 2011
    StarCrossedVoyager
    I can see what it tried to do, it just didn't do it well. It wasn't in depth enough and the drama about who wrote the Proof wasn't dramatic enough. Good performances, just a poor script.
  • deano
    December 16, 2010
    deano
    This film was good and it's about death, love, and mental incapacity. This is a bit familiar of the story I have seen on screen before in such fine film as A Beautiful Mind.
    Gwyneth Paltrow is spectacular in her gut-wrenching, emotional roller coaster of a role. The assemb... read moreled supporting cast is impressive in name; however, Sir Anthony Hopkins is solid, but not great in the relatively small, but crucial role as Paltrow's once genius, then insane, now dead father. His influence on her life is beyond question and how she deals is the heart of the story. Jake Gyllenhaal, although a fine actor, is totally miscast as Hopkins' former student who tries to secure the legacy. Hope Davis is perfect as the irritating sister of Paltrow who has "been working 14 hour days" for 5 years while Paltrow cared for dear old nutty dad.
  • cosmo313
    October 1, 2010
    cosmo313
    I'm not a math person, and, even though there's lots of math in this film, and it's about math people, it's not really "about" math, get it? It's about academics, and the weight of genius. Those are things I get. Both broad topics in this film have previously been seen in A Beaut... read moreiful Mind. This movie is not a retread of that. It is similar, but altogether different.

    I really liked this. Some of the specifics went over my head, but one can know nothing about math and still get this movie and be entertained or moved by it. This is a lot better than I expected, and I liked it more than I thought I would. This is a small-character dirven piece (based on a four character play) that's mostly light on plot. but I love this kind of stuff. The material and the acting are what really carry things. They basically have to. There's nothing really cinematic going on ehre, but that's okay. It's been slightly expanded, and there are a few cinematic type flousihes here and there, but this is all about the characters.

    The acting is brilliant. Aside from The Royal Tenenbaums, I really didn't have much to say about Paltrow. I knew she was a good actress, but this confirms that she's really great. She's great at playing a tortured withdrawn person who's hopelessly isolated from the world in ultiple ways. I didn't really like the character played by Hope Davis, but she's also great. All of the perforers are. Given that this is about kooky academics, it reminded me of that other siilart film which featured Gyllenhaal's doppleganger Tobey Maguire (Wonder Boys). He's getting really good at these types of roles. Anthony Hopkins has played crazy before, but not like this.

    Give this one a chance. It's not something I would watch all the time, but I wouldn't mind seeing it every once in a while.
  • LWOODS04
    November 28, 2009
    LWOODS04
    Anne Wittman, Anthony Hopkins, Colin Stinton

    A devoted daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow) comes to terms with the death of her father (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant mathematician whose genius was crippled by mental instability. Along the way, she's forced to face her own dark fears. ... read moreBut she has help from one of her father's former students (Jake Gyllenhaal), who searches through the dead man's notebooks in hopes of discovering the key to his brilliance. .

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Pretty good movie. Don't think it is for a lot of people though. I enjoyed it. Liked the story of the bond between the daughter and father. It's a hard movie to follow. If your not paying close attention you will be lost. Anthony Hopkins gives another great performance. But there isn't a role this man can't fulfill. Really surprised by Gwyneth Paltrow. Her character was kinda dark, and I thought she pulled it off amazingly. It's a very intense movie. She questions her sanity because she has inherited so much of who her father is, that she is scared that his illness is something else she will inherit, if not already. The movie keeps you wondering the same thing til the end. It wasn't a "must see" film for me. But my curiosity got the best of me. It is hard for me to pass up any movie, not judge it til I have seen it for myself. So I am glad I didn't pass this one up.
  • Redlats
    November 21, 2007
    Redlats
    I enjoyed this movie. The brilliance in the proof is somewhat obscure, but I can feel the possibilities. It would be difficult to come to grips with the probability that you have inherited both the brilliance and the craziness of your father. I just watched part of it again an... read mored noticed how much I liked the music -- it really drives the moods of the movie.
  • Gx7
    October 30, 2007
    Gx7
    Quoted:

    The movie is a kind of slow drama that is heart wrenching. The main character is the daughter of a brilliant mathematician. He went crazy at about her age. For the last five years she's been taking care of him when no one else will, giving up her dreams to do it. A wee... read morek before the movie starts, he died. He has over a hundred notebooks that he wrote basically nonsense in during the last five years. His grad student is going through them. The main character's mothering sister is coming out for the funeral. The main character, Catherine, has to deal with the loss of her father, the possibility she too will go crazy, and with the people in the house she's lived in for most of her life. She's brilliant, also. Will she, too, go crazy? Is she crazy now?
  • wildaly14
    May 14, 2007
    wildaly14
    When I rented the movie I thought it was something more than what I got but it wasn't bad. Nothing noteworthy though. And I must admit that Gyllenhaal would never seem like a mathematician to me but the romantic interest between him and Paltrow was... well.. interesting.
  • sanjurosamurai
    January 23, 2007
    sanjurosamurai
    decent flick

View All Proof Reviews

Critic Reviews

Bill Muller
December 24, 2005
Bill Muller, Arizona Republic

Madden does a competent job transferring the film from stage to screen. Full Review

Amy Biancolli
October 1, 2005
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

Few movies regard the psyche with such sober discernment. Full Review

Rick Groen
September 30, 2005
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

The result, like so many stout travellers from stage to screen, is respectable. Stolidly, bloodlessly, yawningly respectable. Full Review

Carrie Rickey
September 28, 2005
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer

Once you get past that golden swag and curtain of hair, Paltrow's performance is devastating, cutting to the pith and marrow of parent-child relations.

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
September 28, 2005
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. Full Review

Nelson Pressley
September 23, 2005
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 ... Full Review

Mick LaSalle
September 23, 2005
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. Full Review

Tom Long
September 23, 2005
Tom Long, Detroit News

Crackling good work, emotionally and intellectually interesting and grandly entertaining, saved from pomposity a good deal of the time by its sense of humor.

Terry Lawson
September 23, 2005
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

Proof now joins 1984's Amadeus, 1985's made-for-television version of Death of a Salesman and 1988's Dangerous Liaisons on the list of the best modern movie adaptations of the past 25 years.

Robert Denerstein
September 23, 2005
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News

Another movie that toys with ideas but forgets to establish a credible atmosphere.

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