This is a great executed romantic teen movie. Even though nothing in the story of course happens as a real surprise, the movie still knows how to create a believable and touching story about love with more than enough original touches in it.
The main reason why the movie works so well is thanks to the two main actors of the movie; Kirsten Dunst and Jay Hernandez. Both are great in their roles and their love story in the movie is believable and realistic. Their cultural difference are nicely shown in the movie but their social class difference is perhaps a bit underdeveloped and underused. They could had done some nice things with this story element, so it's a bit of a missed opportunity for the movie.
The story is nicely told and the stereotypical elements of a romantic teen movie are as much as possible avoided. It succeeds most of the time in this and because of that the movie is better than the average romantic teen comedy.
It's a perfectly watchable movie mainly targeted towards teens, however also different age groups should be able to appreciate this movie and its love story. A recommendable movie but by no means a must see of course.
7/10
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Crazy/Beautiful
2001
Action / Drama / Romance
Crazy/Beautiful
2001
Action / Drama / Romance
Plot summary
Jay Hernandez stars as Carlos Nunez, a poor but athletically gifted Latino teenager who endures a two-hour bus ride every day from East L.A. to attend the posh, wealthy Pacific Palisades High School in Los Angeles on a football scholarship. A straight-A student, Carlos is focused and driven, but his future is cast in doubt when he becomes the flirtation target of spoiled, self-destructive bad girl Nicole Oakley (Kirsten Dunst),who's the daughter of a prominent congressman (Bruce Davison). When his friends, family, and even Nicole's own father oppose the romance for Carlos' sake, he chooses to ignore their advice and stubbornly pursues his relationship with Nicole, whose feelings grow from simple physical attraction to something much deeper.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
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Nicely made romantic teen movie.
A Sensitive And Caring Drama
Crazy/Beautiful is a poignant teen film about a rich girl in Kirsten Dunst who's a behavioral problem to her father Bruce Davison and stepmother Lucinda Janney. When East LA Barrio kid Carlos Hernandez first meets her, she's doing community service picking up trash on the beach. They discover they go to the same school.
Hernandez is her total opposite. He's doing a two hour commute to her 90210 type high school he can reap the advantages thereof. He's a hardworking student and top football player and he wants to go to Annapolis. Oh by the way, when Hernandez meets Davison, she's forgotten to tell him that daddy is a Congressman.
Davison is a liberal sort so the racial thing doesn't terribly bother him. But he thinks Hernandez will screw himself up if he gets involved with Dunst. God knows she's doing a wonderful job of that in her family relationships.
This was to be a big breakout role for Hernandez who was fresh from the TNBC morning show Hang Time. If he hasn't had quite the career a lot including myself expected of him, not the fault of this film because he and Dunst are a very attractive couple. Crazy/Beautiful is a sensitive and caring drama, a good film for the younger audience.
overwrought teen drama
Nicole Oakley (Kirsten Dunst) is the troubled 17-year-old daughter of a wealthy congressman (Bruce Davison) slacking off with her best friend Maddy (Taryn Manning). While picking up trash on the beach after a DUI, she meets Carlos Nuñez (Jay Hernandez) and his friends. Carlos takes the bus to her rich school everyday. He's a straight A student who aims to be a Naval pilot. They become romantic but it's a struggle with her personal problems. Her father tells him to stay away before her problems will cause him trouble.
Kirsten Dunst is certainly beautiful and great at being a little crazy. She's not even really crazy in this movie. She's more of a struggling teenager who gets drunk to cope with her lost mother. Jay Hernandez is not charming or big enough to lead but he is fine as an earnest student. I also don't like the title. It's a teen melodrama that could have been great. It is overwrought that only a teen melodrama could be. Yet the climax isn't that dramatic.