PROOF (2005)

Nothing exposes the mediocrity of an award-winning middlebrow play, especially one with quasi-intellectual leanings, like a faithful movie adaptation and PROOF is a paradigm of the type.* The play’s theme, which is right out of A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT, teases us to believe that a daughter may have inherited her Dad’s loony gene. It's gimmick is tricking this all up with higher mathematics, a bossy sister & a new beau. Was it more believable on stage? Gwyneth Paltrow sits uncomfortably on the razor’s edge between madness & brilliance while Jake Gyllenhaal just looks tongue-tied. In the hackneyed role of the fast-talking lunatic father, Anthony Hopkins out acts everyone, but can’t authenticate any of the ideas or action.
*DOUBT is an even newer addition to the ranks of over-praised theatrical hooey.