LOS ANGELES(Reuters) - A Beautiful Mind, a film starring Russell Crowe about the fine line between genius and insanity, was picked Friday as best movie of the year by the Broadcast Film Critics Association.
The critics group bestowed a total of four prizes on the film, including awards for best actor for Crowe's portrayal of Nobel laureate and mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. and for best supporting actress for Jennifer Connelly, who played his wife.
The film, which portrays Nash's real-life struggle with schizophrenia, earned Ron Howard an award for best director in a tie with Baz Luhrmann for the musical Moulin Rouge.
Other top acting awards went to Sissy Spacek as best actress in the turbulent family drama In the Bedroom and to Ben Kingsley as best supporting actor in Sexy Beast.
Epic fantasy Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring won two prizes for its music. Howard Shore was named best composer and singer Enya shared best-song honors with former Beatle Paul McCartney for the theme to Vanilla Sky.
The Broadcast Film Critics Association represents 160 broadcast and online movie reviewers in the United States and Canada, which the group says makes it the largest of its kind.
Its seventh annual Critics Choice Awards were presented Friday night at a gala event in Beverly Hills hosted by late-night television host Bill Maher.
The event added to an especially murky pre-Oscar season in which no clear front-runners have emerged in the run-up to the Academy Awards in March.
In the Bedroom was voted film of the year by Los Angeles film critics, while David Lynch's dreamlike Mulholland Drive was named best film by the New York critics and by the National Society of Film Critics. The American Film Institute named Lord of the Rings as its favorite film of the year.
© 2002 REUTERS