Pretty Good

good back-story, and good acting

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This one was really bad, really flaky. It is a story of a strung out unstable girl who doesn't know what she wants and pretends to be in love with some walking stereo-type because she feels sorry for herself and wants to kill herself and sabotage her life. The acting is done by a reluctant actress which is perfect because it portrays what the average girl would be like in such a situation (sarcastic, lying, only doing it to hurt others and sabotage herself instead of suicide.) What a depressing bad-romp. It is filled with every kind of insulting blatant stereo-type and a propaganda of hatred toward white males. This has such a hateful rhetoric that it would be on par with movies that the Nazis would have made. Moral of the story is don't half-bad things in life.. do what you do with your whole being without being hurt, don't do things sarcastically, put your whole being into it. When you do not then you are promoting the most disgusting selfish kind of hatred no different than Nazi propaganda.

Crazy/Beautiful, originally inspired by Lauren Greenfeld photos 'Fast Forward'. A 'crazy' Malibu daughter of a wealthy congressman and a 'beautiful' first generation Mexican son of a hard-working Mexican-American family: 'Crazy/Beautiful are these two 17-years-students at a high school in Pacific Palisades. Nicole: wild, a drinker, sexually bold, reckless. Without much makeup on her face she gives the impression of being naked and 'ugly'. Without a future as everything has been thrown over board: every possible rule she did not care. Everything lost and the only option the 'nicoledecision' "so what!". But: "I wish I wasn't the child that everybody learned what not to do from." The grade A student Carlos with big dreams for a better barriofuture endures a two-hour bus ride every morning to school. The beautiful Carlos and the crazy Nicole are ready for the mistakes of their first love. Nicole and everybody know: in her sphere are all doomed. Her father warns Carlos: "For your own good, for my piece of mind. Stay away from my daughter. You know, it's a painful thing for a father. I can't help you alone". The fatherless Carlos vs the motherless Nicole. Nicole is the first of them to realize: "I think I'm in love with you, sorry." And later: "There are millions of people in this world, but in the end it all comes down to one. I still panic sometimes, forget to breathe, but I know that there's something beautiful in my imperfections; the beauty that he held up for me to see. The strength that I will never be able to say." And assuring him: "I want to be good for you." But Carlos, son of a poor barrio family, family helped to be something better, has a lot to loose. This the reason why he listens as the fatherless son he is to the congressman's warning. And Nicole knows: "What did he tell you, Stay away from me, the lost cause?" "I just..." answers Carlos. But! Both are beyond the point-of-no-return, following Hollywoods twists and turns. After their split: The worried Carlos fetches her from that wild party. Both are caught in a police control and Nicole delivered at her home. (Stepmom Courtney: "What kind of daughter are you?" Nicole: "Not yours." Courtney: "Thank god for that.") At school the day after she collects her belongings. Carlos sees her with a man. Not her father but an official to escort her to Utah. And Carlos reacts, despite midterm exams, realizing 'his' 17-years-first-love. Their run-away, their talk at the motel and her return home. The schmaltzy ending. The soft kindness of the good-enough-father is unable to set the rule when needed. Nothing else but a fathers obligation. A none-father and a none-husband when needed, the reason that he lost his daughter, the reason for his wives suicide? Instead an institution as step-in-father with official escort: "Why do you hate me so much? How could you tell the only person in the world that I love, that I care about so much, how could you tell him to stay away from me? Do you think that the only thing I'll ever do to someone is screw them up? That I'm not worth loving?" At Carlos sisters birthday party Nicole sees that she is far more poor than the birthday celebrating poor barrio family: "You can be anywhere where when your life begins. You meet the right person and anything is possible." Here, beyond everything: ready for the real. What Crazy/beautiful teaches (eavesdropping) is that the nicolestyle is the only option but not easy. To come to this kind of point-of-no-return and be there as unwanted outcast waiting - waiting for one of the millions. The movie wanted more, but had in mind the PG-13 rating, limited to those over 17. The movie lets us see people and not look at case studies.

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.

Kirsten Dunst's portrayal of an out-of-control early-stage alcoholic/other-drug addict is decent in terms of behaviors. In classic fashion, she blames everyone else for all her problems, is completely irresponsible and turns on a dime against those who are out of favor (her doting dad, for example).The portrayal of enabling isn't bad either. Good boy falls in love with exciting addict. However, in the real world he would have enabled her to her grave. In the absence of the boyfriend, her completely unaware father would have insured she died from her disease. The key problem with the ending--which ruins the movie for the addiction-aware--is that she doesn't die OR get sober. In terms of pure fantasy, the movie ranks with "The Thin Man" series, in which caring, considerate and competent alcoholic PI Nick Charles is never nasty--yeah, right--and "Lost Weekend," in which writer Don Birnam easily gets sober at the end. Sorry, that just doesn't happen.While the movie clearly shows that an excellent upbringing is no impediment to alcoholism, it implies that poor behaviors cause alcoholic drinking. As I have written in four books on the subject and repeatedly point out in my free on-line addiction report, this is one of the great myths of addiction that serves only to perpetuate the disease. The movie's ending can easily cause the uninitiated to believe that "love" and "working" with the addict gets her sober. Every recovering addict alive with at least five years' sobriety will admit that what got them sober was uncompromising tough love and that getting sober was essential for a return to civilized behaviors.If the movie had shown Kirsten's character going into rehab and coming out clean, I might have rated the movie a five. But that would have required either dad or nice boyfriend setting proper boundaries and offering uncompromising tough love--in which case I might have rated the movie a seven. Sorry, but all those comments about "realistic portrayal," "slight substance abuse problem," "what teen doesn't drink?" and "the talk between dad and daughter at the end of the movie is utterly believable" are written by viewers who don't have a clue about addiction. And because of a fatally flawed ending, "Crazy/Beautiful" fails to shed light on the most destructive disease known to man.