Dunst is the rich girl who falls for a Latino boy (Hernandez) from the wrong side of the tracks, but the twist here is that he is the hard-working, straight arrow (getting up at the crack of dawn to travel across LA on a bus to a good school), while she is the mad, rebellious one (daddy pays no attention, mummy isn’t around and stepmum doesn’t understand her), brimming over with trouble and teen angst.
Yes, as well as being a romance (complete with cool, MTV-friendly rock/pop soundtrack), this is an ‘issues’ movie, one of those films packed with messages (‘drugs are bad’, ‘studying is good’) that usually turn up on daytime TV. But while the script sometimes thuds with melodrama, the film boasts terrific, classy and moving performances from the cast, notably Hernandez and Bruce Davison (as Dunst’s congressman father), and especially a ferocious Dunst.
Is Crazy/Beautiful suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...
None.
If you like this, why not try: Mad Love, Remember Me, A Walk To Remember, Lucas, Rebel Without A Cause,