Rating: 
Summary: Crazy in Alabama - One of my favourite movies
Review: "Crazy in Alabama" is one of the best films I've ever seen, combines with great ability two different stories, one of Civil Rights and other about Lucille, who killed her husband , put his head into a bag and went to Hollywood to become a TV star.
I think Antonio Banderas directed this film perfectly and Melanie Griffith does one of her best movies.
I watch this movie from time to time and I really enjoy it, the music is beautiful.
I'm expecting your next movie Antonio!
Rating:
Summary: Surprising Excellence!
Review: "Crazy in Alabama" is set in the early 1960's and combines several plots expertly: the Civil Rights Movement, spousal abuse, and parentless children. Antonio Banderas directs brilliantly. Melanie Griffith is a vision of loveliness and her performance is worth seeing all by itself! The bottom line is, no matter what the consequences, we must do the right thing.
Rating: 
Summary: pure nonsensical drivel
Review: "Crazy in Alabama," the directorial debut of Antonio Banderas, tries desperately to live up to its title yet simply emerges as deep-fried Southern malarkey garnished with social significance. What the plotters had in mind with this overbaked concoction is truly beyond the powers of mere mortal understanding.The Mark Childress screenplay is a textbook case study of narrative schizophrenia run amok. Melanie Griffith, obviously past her darling ingenue stage and heading into the career sunset of doddering, crazy aunt roles, plays the stereotypical Southern lunatic who has decapitated her abusive husband, packed his head in a tupperware container she carries with her in a hatbox and headed off (pardon the pun) to find fame and glory in the spotlight of 1960's Hollywood. Almost tangetially, the film also concerns itself with her nephew, Peejoe, and his experiences that summer involving a clash between blacks and whites over a segregated swimming pool in the small southern town in which he lives. To say that the filmmakers fail to coalesce these elements into a coherent whole would be a masterpiece of understatement. This actually seems to be two completely different films rubbing up against one another and not liking each other very much. The audience, as a result, is left in a state of headscratching and, occasionally, even jawdropping confusion. Unfortunately, the film fails to work as either a freewheeling black comedy or as an incisive social document. As in so many films dealing with the issue of civil rights, the blacks play secondary roles in their own story, standing in the background as part of a mob rather than stepping forth as fully developed, fully rounded characters in their own right. It also seems odd that a film which approaches this issue in such highminded and reverential terms tries, at the same time, to pass off a serious mental illness as a quaintly admirable example of freespirited non-conformity. The film suffers from a terminal grinding of tonal gears. Who could ever imagine that the same film would feature a recreation of an appearance by Martin Luther King Jr. and the filming of a "Bewitched" episode - and believe that such a coupling could ever result in a meaningful marriage? It is a testament to the utter absurdity and hopelessness of the entire enterprise. Drawing a parallel between a woman who cuts her husband's head off and a group of black people fighting for equal rights and uncritically calling both examples of "freedom" equal to one another insults those involved in the noble latter cause. And not all the scenes of phony emotional uplift at the end - a scanning of tear soaked faces at a ludicrous trial, a shot of Griffith, standing through a sun-roof riding off into the sunset, arms raised in a victory salute - can mitigate the tastelessness at the film's core. "Crazy in Alabama" simply proves that, for an offbeat film to be successful, an attempt has to be made to blend the disparate elements of plotting and tone into an organic whole. As it is, "Crazy in Alabama" is merely weird without being any fun.
Rating: 
Summary: Crazy About Alabama in Arizona
Review: Crazy In Alabama is engrossing and entertaining with the excellent re-creation of the mid-60's with respect to cars, fashions, and the civil rights movement.All actors were superbly cast for their roles. Not bad directing Mr. Banderas; You may have another artistic venue or outlet, yet. There are two stories simultaneously being told here. Yes, they are both effective and do meet at the end of the road for purpose and not filler. The title itself is also double edged meaning ; It is indicative of the racial tension and madness in Alabama happening while Lucille is on her cross country/Hollywood quest (to lay certain ghosts of the past to rest as well)...
Rating: 
Summary: Not great, but agood first directorial effort by Banderas
Review: Crazy in Alabama is one of my all-time favorite books. The movie doesn't quite measure up to it. Melanie Griffith is ALMOST perfect as Aunt Lucille. She sure is charming and fun in the role. But it should have been established right from the get-go that Aunt Lucille is no spring chicken. At 40 or 41 (when this film was made), Miss Griffith is no "34 years old" as the radio announcer in the getaway car says. In the book a talent scout saw Lucille in a community theatre production of The Sound of Music. He saw "star quality and talent" in her small role. So when he invites her to look him up in Hollywood, you can believe that he will cast her in a TV show. But in the movie we are asked to believe Lucille merely sent in her head shots and ALL OF HOLLYWOOD has gone crazy over her and -- SIGHT UNSEEN -- she is offered a role in Bewitched. I DON'T THINK SO! (Can you imagine how many Hollywood hopefuls send in their headshots to movie studios?) But aside from these glitches, the rest of the film is very moving and dramatic. Not bad for a first time director.
Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: I am not a fan of Melanie Griffith at all, in fact, the only film I really like her in is "Working Girl". It's not that she is a terrible actress. She is just annoying. So why did I waste over 2 hours of my time watching this movie? I am now asking myself the same thing. I wasn't sure if this movie was supposed to be a comedy. If it was, it wasn't even funny. Griffith, plays Lucille, a woman who is beaten by her husband. She kills him and cuts his head off...Why? I have no idea. Maybe she's crazy? She then decides to leave her 7 children in the hands of her mother so she can go out to Hollywood and live out her dream of becoming a glamerous actress. She takes the head of her husband along for the ride...why not? Nothing else makes sense so far so why not make less sense. This film is just a mishmash of nonsense. She wins a lot of money in Las Vegas right before she gets to California. She eventually gets her big break...She is on t.v. Then, she gets caught..eventually all criminals do. I don't know what the ending of this movie is all about...She goes free? when she was sentenced to a term in prison? Maybe the book is better, I hope so, cuz this was a boring movie. I watched it on cable....thank god i waited that long. The only bright spot was Lucas Black, the boy from Sling Blade. He is one of the best child actors right now. I hope to see more of him in films. He is very charming. I personally wouldn't recommend this film.
Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: I am not a fan of Melanie Griffith at all, in fact, the only film I really like her in is "Working Girl". It's not that she is a terrible actress. She is just annoying. So why did I waste over 2 hours of my time watching this movie? I am now asking myself the same thing. I wasn't sure if this movie was supposed to be a comedy. If it was, it wasn't even funny. Griffith, plays Lucille, a woman who is beaten by her husband. She kills him and cuts his head off...Why? I have no idea. Maybe she's crazy? She then decides to leave her 7 children in the hands of her mother so she can go out to Hollywood and live out her dream of becoming a glamerous actress. She takes the head of her husband along for the ride...why not? Nothing else makes sense so far so why not make less sense. This film is just a mishmash of nonsense. She wins a lot of money in Las Vegas right before she gets to California. She eventually gets her big break...She is on t.v. Then, she gets caught..eventually all criminals do. I don't know what the ending of this movie is all about...She goes free? when she was sentenced to a term in prison? Maybe the book is better, I hope so, cuz this was a boring movie. I watched it on cable....thank god i waited that long. The only bright spot was Lucas Black, the boy from Sling Blade. He is one of the best child actors right now. I hope to see more of him in films. He is very charming. I personally wouldn't recommend this film.
Rating:
Summary: A terrific, completely underrated film
Review: I can't wait for the DVD of this film, which won raves at the Venice Film Festival and across Europe, then was almost completely ignored/trashed by American critics. The direction by Banderas is terrific, Melanie Griffith's performance is one of her best ever, and the screenplay by Mark Childress (author of the novel, too) is a miracle of compression and wit. I think this movie will have a whole new life, richly deserved, in video.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies of 1999!
Review: I have seen all of the Oscar contenders and critically acclaimed movies of 1999 and believe this movie should have been up there with them. It was humorous, touching, uplifting and wonderful. Some might be disturbed by some of the subject matter - a woman who cuts off her husband's head and drives around with it in a tupperware jar - but there is so much depth to this movie, it literally made me cry. It is also the story of the narrator, Pee-Joe's, summer in Industry, Alabama where he inadvertently ends up tangling with the evil Sheriff and stands up against the injustices committed against the blacks in his town. Lucille lends a little humour to the film but her speech in court at the end is touching as she tells the reasons why she killed her husband, Chester. It was definitely a great movie all around. It will go down as one of my favorite films of all time. All of the actors in it were superb. A great message to the film is summed up by Pee-Joe "You can bury freedom but you can't kill it".
Rating:
Summary: For the love of Melanie
Review: Melanie Griffith is one of the biggest stars in the late 80's and early '90's, and her stardom has faded a bit in recent years. Although I really was impressed by her early work in Working Girls, it wasn't until I saw this film when I was swept away by her multi-layered performance that was funny, campy, and melodramatic. For a low-key period piece, she's the reason to see it.
Melanie plays a house wife raising 7 children under the roof of house dominated by her sexually, verbally, and physically abusive husband. She's had enough, so she cut his off and headed for Hollywood to pursue her acting career, leaving her kids and friends behind in Alabama. She carried his dead husband's head in a big hat box along for the ride. The police are trying to track her down.
She landed a gig in a TV show and became a big star over night. It's hard to believe that happened so easily. Everyone saw her on TV including the cops. A black boy was killed by a white boy accidently in Alabama and it was a huge racism scanddal. Melanie got arrested and was sent back to Alabama. Everyone treated her like a star when she arrived.
The courtroom scene was the climatic part of the film when Melanie gets to tell her story as a victim of abuse and trying to win the simpathy of the jury. I was so moved by this scene, and Melanie commands absolute attention, because she's very real and powerful emotionally. Whether she was released or sent to jail, you are just going to have to watch it.
It was obvious that Melanie gave her all to the direction of her husband/Antonio Banderas' debut. This is a must see for Melanie Griffith fans!
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