DETAILS:   99 minutes, feature audio commentary, three deleted scnes (with optional commentary), featurette

STUDIO:  Miramax/ The Weinstein Company

RELEASE DATE:  2-14-2006

PROOF  is an amazing and asorbing drama.   The movie is Gwyneth Paltrow's and Anthony Hopkin's show.    They help make the story work and connect in addition to the way director John Madden structured and directed PROOF.   I didn't care for Madden's previous film effort with Paltrow (SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE), but PROOF really connected with me.  The story of PROOF centers around Catherine (Paltrow)who cared for her mentally unstable father (Hopkins) for the last five years.  Her dad was a math genius who just died and now it is time to pick up the pieces of her life when a notebook among her father's piles of notebooks contains a brilliant math proof.   She claims she did the proof, but her sister and the guy who looked up to her fatehr have their doubts.   Could Catherine be doomed to end up like her father or is she every bit of genius he was before he went crazy?

Patrow didn't impress me in any of her other films, but she plays the emotions and emotional shutdown of Catherine to the hilt.   The editing and interweaving of present day with flashbacks sucked me in.   It was like pieces of a math equation that came closer to a solution as PROOF went on.   I also can't get the thought of theoretical physicists being big drinkers at parties.

VIDEO:   2.35:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

AUDIO:  English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Frnech Language track

Subtitles:   English SDH, Spanish (special features not subtitled or captioned)

The image quality is OK and the transfer is a little soft while the music is the high point of the 5.1 DD.  Dialogue is clear (important since PROOF depends onit).

SPECIAL FEATURES:   The feature audio commentary with director John Madden is like he is casually talking about the movie's history and production on some talk show like Charlie Rose.   The deleted scenes are halfway interesting, but they don't add anything at all while FROM STAGE TO SCREEN: THE MAKING OF PROOF is your usual promotional fluff featurette from Miramax hyping the film.   The audio commentary is the best extra on the DVD.

FINAL ANALYSIS:   PROOF is one of the best movies I have seen.  this amazing drama is engrossing and you should at least rent it to see for yourself.

this article is (c)2-8-2006 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission (except for excerpts and a link to the review). Look for additional content at http://enterlinemedia.livejournal.com  and send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com