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Crazy/ Beautiful

Crazy/ Beautiful

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $11.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: For once a teen movie that means something
Review: Crazy/Beautiful is probably the best teen drama I have seen in a while.When I rented this I had expected another fluffy teen drama.Lets just say I was expecting another Here On Earth.But I rented it anyway because I am a huge Kirsten Dunst fan and I had heard only good things about this movie.When I sat down and watched it I was very surprised.The movie actually had real characters and not some characters thought up in ten minutes.The movies plot might no be a whole lot different from the plot of some of the other movies,but this one you can tell was thought in more than 15 minutes.Jay Hernandaz delivers an awesome breakthrough performance.I hope to see more of him in years to come.Kirsten Dunst hands in,probably,her best performance to date.Give this movie a try.Even if you don't like it,it's worth seeing the two actors do an amazing job

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Surprisingly good
Review: Like an irritating string of sing-along music videos for much of its first 45 minutes, this film recovers just enough in its second half to pass muster as a member of that rarest of Hollywood species: a well-intentioned teen film with something interesting to say. The girl-meets-boy-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks cliché is cannily inverted here, with poor little rich girl (Kirsten Dunst) threatening to ruin the life of her hardworking and motivated Latino beau (Jay Hernandez). Will she drag him down with her, or will her life be redeemed through his love? Once it poses that question, the story takes off and the subsequent plot shifts keep you guessing. There's a really great film to be made out of this kind of material, but 'Crazy/Beautiful' isn't quite it. It's still good, but what lets it down is its style. A slightly more gritty, documentary-like approach might have made it feel more real. In 'Good Will Hunting' and 'Nil By Mouth', Gus Van Sant and Gary Oldman both showed that it's possible to make gritty films about realistic characters which still have something delicate, subtle and emotional at their core.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: don't know
Review: I don't know why I love this movie, but I just do. I am a sucker for romance and that is what this movie is. A real life romance. You don't really get to see why Carlos loves his girlfriend, but he just does. He is a honest and important man in her life and they stick together through out all the hardships and depressed teenaged girl has. Very good film. Its realistic too. It deals with suicide, drugs, sex and gangs.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: good, but somewhat unrealistic
Review: i just saw this movie on the oxygen network...well written, well acted, and i have to give props to the director for accurately portraying the east la culture, but one thing kept nagging me....why in the world would this handsome, intelligent young man who had so much going for him be attracted to this unattractive, drugged-up looking, needy LOSER of a character. It just didn't make any sense to me. I cannot see this happening in real life.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I thought this film was going to be generic, but I was wrong
Review: The trailer for Crazy/Beautiful made this film look like it was going to be just another doomed teen romance film. If any of you have seen Mad Love with Drew Barrymore, a movie that is better than you would think, well, that's what I thought I was going to get. That's not a bad thing...it's just that these kinds of films do not ever showcase great acting talent. Well, Crazy/Beautiful does showcase some amazing acting talent from Kirsten Dunst, and the script is so original and complicated, that each little turn you're seeing something that you wouldn't expect from a film of this genre. The characters are fresh and complex...far from the cardboard cutout characters in recent romance films. By the end of the film, I cared about what happened to these "ill-fated lovers", and I found the conclusion to be both realistic and emotional. It's a shame that more people won't give this film a chance since it was marketed so poorly, because this one is a true gem. Dunst deserves quite a lot of praise for the best performance of her career.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Impressively restrained teen flick
Review: Good romantic comedy teen flicks are often few and far between, but it's a pretty safe bet that anything involving the startlingly talented Kirsten Dunst is worth a look. Crazy/Beautiful deals with rich city girl Nicole, who's off the rails (the 'crazy' Dunst) and her deepening relationship with the serious poor Hispanic kid, Carlos (the 'beautiful' Hernandez) who has aspirations of becoming a pilot. As the movie progresses, happiness and smiles gives way to doubts and fears - will Nicole drag Carlos down with her? Can Carlos resolve the tensions in his family with him dating a white girl?

Filmed in a gritty, grainy style it's clear from the start that although this might be no revelation Crazy/Beautiful at least sets itself out as a little different. Dunst gives a typically fantastic turn as the troubled Nicole, managing to emote without ever seeming whiny or tiresome, a girl who sees her faults and hates herself for them and consequently falls headlong into them. Such a complex (at least for a teen movie) role isn't easy to pull off and it's due to Dunst that we do actually care about the possibly noxious Nicole. Unfortunately Hernandez's role is a lot more stereotypical, and the race issue was much better evoked in Save The Last Dance, but he's still an appealing performer who creates a realistic relationship with Nicole.

Although the trials and tribulations of the relationship will definitely give you a sense of deja-vu, Crazy/Beautiful is a gently moving film that not only promises great things for Dunst but also never feels compelled to fall into cheap violence to get a reaction. The relationship is drawn out quietly and therefore emotes a great deal more than the histrionics that many directors of similar movies seem to opt for. In addition there is a realistic portrayal of a troubled teenager in Nicole, and when we learn the root of her trauma it's a genuinely compelling moment. With a beginning that's scattered with photographs and scrawlings this is an intimate film throughout and works all the better for it. The ending may be cheesy but before that you'll find yourself impressed at its subtle differences in a pretty much dead genre.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Close to reality
Review: I enjoyed the movie. I have met people like this. Kristen needs to take a shower in the movie though...a little too much bad language. Overall, teaches a lesson

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Upside down cliches
Review: I live with an LA High School teacher; we are both in our fifties yet we both enjoy teen oriented movies, at least to some degree. However, we are also highly sensitive to the distance from reality in most of these movies, and this one kept us awake and interested. Crazy/Beautiful may be another fairly tale reworking of the star-crossed lovers theme, but it also presents its characters with a gritty realism. These kids in this movie are a lot like real kids that we know and see everyday.

Kirsten Dunst is still portraying a teenager, but proves she can handle adult complexity. Jay Hernandez is wonderfully unaffected. The story is in many respects by the numbers, but it turns most of the movie cliches upside down - the rich kids father approves of the poor kid - it's his own daughter he has trouble with. The Latino kid is appealing to the white girls, but he isn't a white boy in a Latino skin, he is comfortable in his identity. I don't want to say too much more because I don't want to ruin the story for those who haven't seen it.

This is a fun film to watch with superb performances. As others have said, it has no villains just people who look like them from the vantage of the main characters. It's a feel good teen movie with something to interest the brain.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Think a little deeper
Review: This is a fantastic girly romantic film which is gripping, with a fantastic feel good message at the end about the sort of thing we all dream for. About how a messed up girl that nobody understoods still manages to get the opposite end of the world man to be the only one to stay behind her. TV goes off and we all go ahhh. But does nobody think about the fact her best friend was the one beside her the whole time? There for her when he left her, and for when she was trying to get his attention to begin with. What happened to the message of friends first? Very ironically backed up with the end credits being to song lyrics "what about friendship..." not a message I was totally loving.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Not Your Typical Teen Movie
Review: It was really great to see a movie that represented people who are poor but sucessful (Jay Hernandez's character). I liked how the rich, spoiled girl with the nice house and car is having a harder time in life than the guy who's living in the ghetto with his mother. This movie showed a good picture of a Latino who has his life together and isn't what people probably expect of him. Kirsten Dunst is very good in this but is a little too dramatic while Jay Hernandez is just perfect for his role. I would recommend this movie o anyone who likes movies that focus more on the actual relationship and less on the romance. Very good movie!


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