Trying to watch modern teen films from an adult’s perspective is nearly an impossible task for me. I don’t come into contact with enough teens to be able to tell if the ones on film act anything like the ones in real life. As a result, I’m left to compare the movie versions to the way my friends and I behaved when we were in high school — which is not very fair since we’re crossing generational lines here.
So when I recently viewed crazy/beautiful starring Kirsten Dunst and Jay Hernandez, I had no idea what to make of the film. Apparently, Dunst’s character Nicole was “crazy” because she danced in public, cut classes, and didn’t care about her future, while Hernandez’s Carlos was beautiful because… well, because, he’s good-looking. Yawn.
Plot summary (with possible spoilers): The film opens with Nicole performing garbage pickup as part of a community service sentence. Carlos and a group of his friends see her, and go over to talk to her. It turns out that Carlos and Nicole both go to the same elite high school, one that Carlos has to ride a bus for two hours every day to attend.
At school, Nicole and Carlos start getting to know each other a little more, and eventually start dating. Of course, their relationship is beset with a whole laundry list of problems, all of which should be familiar to anyone who has seen teen movies before.
For instance, Carlos comes from a poor, working-class family, while Nicole’s family is loaded. Carlos is a straight-A student who dreams of attending Annapolis and becoming an Air Force pilot. Nicole is flunking out of school and doesn’t plan anything beyond the next party. Et cetera.
The film mostly deals with the developing relationship between Carlos and Nicole, and chronicles the expected series of ups and downs. Along the way, we get the usual fights, make-out sessions, parental disapproval, and break-up. However, since Carlos and Nicole are IN LOVE, they work through everything and end up sticking it out together.
My Reaction: I didn’t like this film at all. It seemed that Nicole didn’t have any redeeming qualities, so that made me wonder why Carlos would be so attracted to her in the first place. I mean, sure, most guys in Carlos’ situation would want to get with a cleaned-up version of Nicole. But she was just so greasy and gross in this movie that I couldn’t understand why Carlos even bothered.
Plus, it’s not as though she possessed a “winning” personality either. They just didn’t make sense as a couple, so I was actively rooting for them to break up instead of stay together. I doubt that’s the reaction the filmmakers intended to provoke.
I’ve read a few positive reviews about this movie, and they mostly say the same thing. crazy/beautiful is different because most of the roles are reversed. It’s not the poor kid who’s bad news; it’s the rich kid. The dad isn’t protective of his daughter; he’s protective of the guy who actually has a future.
I’ll admit that yes, it was refreshing to see something a little bit different in that respect. But I don’t think these changes were big enough to impact the story in a positive manner. The movie was still boring, regardless of who inhabited what roles.
Overall, I was disappointed in crazy/beautiful. As I said before, it could be because I’m too old for teen movies now, or it could be because the movie truly sucked. Maybe it’s a little of both. I give this film 1 star out of 5.
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