Similar
It is a little similar to "Being There" where Peter Sellers plays a man who was the gardener for a wealthy man. The character was a weird mirror for people to see the things they liked about themselves.
Forrest Gump was a fun movie about a dim bulb who managed to be in the scene when the national obsession changes. It was the weird sayings like "Stupid is as stupid does" and " life is like a box of chocolates..." that show simplicity without being simple.
Forrest Gump and Chancey Gardener are fictional but the character in "A Beautiful Mind" was a real person.