Themes: Interracial/Cross-Cultural Romance, Dysfunctional Families, Teen Angst
Main Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Jay Hernandez, Bruce Davison, Lucinda Jenney, Taryn Manning
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 99 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
The Romeo and Juliet story has been modernized to a high school setting previously, but this romance from director John Stockwell turns the tale inside out. 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. Crazy/beautiful is directed by writer, actor, and director John Stockwell, who also penned the same year's Rock Star. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Tom Meyer - Art Director, Randi Hiller - Casting, Sarah Halley-Finn - Casting, Rick Dallago - Co-producer, Susan Matheson - Costume Designer, Rip Murray - First Assistant Director, John Stockwell - Director, Melissa Kent - Editor, Guy Riedel - Executive Producer, Paul Haslinger - Composer (Music Score), Evyen Klean - Musical Direction/Supervision, P.J. Bloom - Musical Direction/Supervision, Maia Javan - Production Designer, Shane Hurlbut - Cinematographer, Harry Ufland - Producer, Mary Jane Ufland - Producer, Rachel Pfeffer - Producer, Maria Nay - Set Designer, Evelyne Barbier - Set Designer, Steven M. Weiss - Sound/Sound Designer, Phil Hay - Screenwriter, Matt Manfredi - Screenwriter, Lauren Stephens - Supervising Sound Editor, Kelly Cabral - Supervising Sound Editor, Maria Nay - Set Decorator
The story is that of a spoiled, rich, out-of-control congressman's daughter (Dunst) who meets up with a working class Mexican-American straight-A student (Hernandez), resulting in a clash of cultures, values and a love affair. Nicole is troubled because her mother committed suicide when she was very young. She feels unwanted by her father who is now married to another woman and has another young daughter with his new wife. Carlos, on the other hand, is from a poor background and working hard towards becoming a pilot. They meet at a beach while Nicole is on "community service" and discover they attend the same high school. They later fall in love but Nicole's out-of-control and hectic lifestyle means that Carlos stops performing well in school and sports. When he needs a reference for his university application, Nicole suggests that he ask her father for one. During their meeting, Nicole's father tells Carlos that if he doesn't want his life to be destroyed, he needs to break up with Nicole. Carlos does break up with her, which leads Nicole into depression and back to her wild, drunken ways. One night Carlos really misses her and when he calls her, he finds out she is getting drunk at a high school party. He crashes it and saves a drunken Nicole from a boy trying to take sexual advantage of her because she is intoxicated. Carlos drives her home but they get stopped and arrested by the police. As a result of this incident, Nicole's step mother and father decide that she needs to go to a boarding school far away from home; Carlos rescues her and they run away together. While they are away Nicole realizes she really is messing up Carlos' life by taking him away from his dreams and goals, so she decides to sober up. They go back home and she makes up with her father and step mother. Her father thanks Carlos for not listening to his advice to stay away from Nicole. In the end credits we see that Carlos has become a pilot with the army.
Although the film initially came and went at the box office when it was released in the summer of 2001, Kirsten Dunst received generally positive reviews for her portrayal of the out of control rich girl.
