Review of Crazy / Beautiful

Introduction

Crazy/Beautiful played at cinemas last year and stars Kirsten Dunst alongside Jay Fernandez. The story features Dunst as the daughter of a Congressman was traumatised by the death of her mother when she was twelve, and has had behavioural problems ever since. Fernandez comes from a poor neighbourhood, but is looking to overcome adversity by studying hard so that he can join the navy as a pilot. After a chance meeting, the two become lovers, and Dunst`s disruptive influence causes Fernandez`s dedication to falter. Both then have big choices to make, but will they be the right ones?

Video

The video is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and is of a reasonably high standard, with no sign of compression problems, and a picture that is free from dirt and grain (aside from the intentional grain during the title sequence that is!). The image has a slightly washed out look, but this certainly doesn`t detract from the movie.

Visually, the film is quite formulaic as you might expect from the plot - poor guy from run down suburb meets misunderstood rich girl whose father is a Congressman and who lives in a large expensive house. In between there is the school and some partying etc.

Audio

The soundtrack comes in a choice of Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 - I chose the latter but there is little difference between the two - this isn`t a movie that needs, or provides, powerful sound. Having said that, there are some good songs in the soundtrack, which are well reproduced - primarily from the front channels.

There is little in the way of sound effects, with the focus being on the dialogue, which is clear and understandable.

Features

The extras consist of a director`s commentary track, a making of featurette and deleted scenes (with commentary).

The disc is packaged in a black Amaray case, which contains a single-sheet insert detailing the rather miserly 14 chapter breaks.

Conclusion

Overall, Crazy/Beautiful is a run-of-the-mill teenage love story with all the usual twists which is saved from mediocrity by an appealing cast who give excellent performances. Kirsten Dunst is superb as Nicole and Jay Fernandez is equally impressive as Carlos. The support is also good and consequently the story is well told by the cast. The plot doesn`t offer much new, borrowing from any number of other teen angst/romance movies, but it is certainly quite watchable.

Good video and sound are joined by reasonable extras, but in truth it`s doubtful if you`d go out of your way to watch the film more than once, so I`d recommend renting a copy rather than buying it.