Eli Michaelson, the winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry is some piece of work! He seduces his female students; he has an ego the size of an elephant, and in addition, he is a nasty SOB. To make matters worse, he is being recognized for the work that might have been developed by another scientist. We meet this man as he is going to go to Sweden to accept the prize, at a time when his son Barkley is facing a crisis of his own.

Barkley, who is a student himself, has been at odds with his father for quite some time. He doesn't see eye to eye with the old man, who considers him unworthy of being his son. Barkley meets a young woman at a poetry venue, where most of the poems that are read are just plain weird. Her name is City Hall, a name that goes well with the odd ball she is. As their meeting progresses into a tumble in the hay, Barkley ends up missing the flight to Stockholm to accompany his parents for the ceremony.

To make matters worse, Barkley is kidnapped by a young guy, Thaddeus, who is intent in seeking revenge for something the older Michaelson has caused in his life. The kidnapper and his victim suddenly discover they have a lot more in common than anyone of them suspected. Thaddeus wants to get two million dollars from the old man he holds responsible for ruining his life.

Randall Miller, the creator of "Nobel Son" is a man that has a knack for bringing interesting stories to the screen, as he proved with "Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School", which is a small gem that was not appreciated as it should have been. Together with his frequent collaborator, Jody Savin, they deliver a movie that never seems to surprise the viewer.

Alan Rickman, a great Englis actor, is perfect as the egotistical Eli, a man who is so nasty, vulgar, and just plain hateful. Mr. Rickman is one of the pleasures in watching the film. Equally excellent are Bryan Greenberg and Shawn Hatosy, two of our interesting young actors that keep getting better and better all the time. Mary Steenburgen was another surprise as the long suffering wife of Eli. Bill Pullman has a small role, as well as Danny DeVito. We also enjoyed Eliza Dushku, who is seen as the crazy poet, City Hall.

Highly recommended for fans of Randall Miller.

I love Alan Rickman in anything especially here where he plays a vain, selfish Nobel Laureate chemistry professor, Eli Michaelson. He plays it beautifully. If Alan would reconsider, he should be awarded and accept British knighthood but he has declined in the past. Mary Steenburgen is wonderful as the long suffering wife and mother. Eli's son, Barkley, learns some surprising facts and truths about his beloved father. Eli isn't so keen on giving up his money. There are plenty of memorable moments in the film like the car chase in the mall. Danny DeVito has a features role as their tenant. The cast is marvelous and the story is entertaining as well. It's nice to see Mary Steenburgen in a role worthy of her talent.

I was really looking forward to "Nobel Son". I was thinking, finally, an intelligent thriller that is going to focus on the characteristics of those found in the academic sciences. But I'm afraid that all I got was a jumbled mess that never really accomplished anything.

The son of a Nobel Prize-winning chemist is kidnapped for ransom. There are a lot of interesting ways to take this story. The main problem is, they take all of them. We have an opportunity to investigate what's really going on in the mind of the son, how has his father affected his life, why does the father live his life the way he does, who is really responsible for the kidnapping and why... . The ways to explore this story are endless, and instead of delving in whole-heartedly, all that came out was a jumbled mess that left me feeling frustrated with no invested knowledge in any part of the story. Another review said the problem was too many cooks. I second that, and will adapt the phrase from "too many cooks spoil the broth" to "too many writers spoil the story". Only two screenwriters were credited, but I'm willing to bet there were more with their hands in it.

The actors were all quite good, I'm sure. It's the characters that I'm more confused about. Whenever they presented a scene which echoed my experiences in the ivory tower of science, they usually followed that up with a scene that didn't make sense based on what we knew about the characters. Perhaps I was focusing too much on specifics, but I was continuously confused and frustrated by their characterization and story ideas. Too many writers, ideas, and lack of focus spoiled "Nobel Son".