Depressed mathematicians!

"Proof" starring a mopey Gwyneth Paltrow, opens today. I saw the stage play a few years ago with sour and scary Mary Louise Parker in the lead. Gwyneth's interpretation of a depressed twenty-something year old makes more sense (you probably know an unkempt, boring shut-in just like her) but Mary Louise's passive-aggressive stewing made for more fun.

That said, the play translates pretty well to the big screen. It maintains the nifty little plot and director John Madden doesn't try to make it seem more like a movie by adding any unnecessary montages or fancy visuals. He just films the play and trusts his actors to be riveting enough to keep the story moving. A good choice.

The plot is simple. A crazy math genius (Anthony Hopkins) dies leaving behind his daughter (Gwyneth) who may or may not be crazy and seems to be pretty good at addition and subtraction herself. Also, a boy (Jake Gyllenhall) thinks she's hot.

The movie's biggest shortcoming is Hope Davis as Gwynie's inexplicably shrill sister. The script doesn't give her much with which to work. Playwright David Auburn seemed to write the part with only spite for urban professionals in mind. It's a caricature. But Davis, who's usually pretty good, mucks it up more than was necessary. She plays the sister broadly and theatrically while all the other actors realize that there's a movie camera only a few feet away. They can relax and trust that their performance will be noted. She seems even more flat and artificial against Paltrow. It hard to tell if Paltrow's character is exasperated by her sister or if Paltrow is exasperated by her co-star.