Crazy/Beautiful

Nicole is a congressman's daughter. She drinks, skips class, and nobody in her father's house pays attention to her. Carlos takes two buses to school every morning; he is working towards the air force academy and it is his only chance. When they meet, both have something to lose, but not the same things. The subject is not love but the same mistake costing two young people differently. For Nicole the punishment is a week grounded; for Carlos it is expulsion from the academy. The film says so plainly and installs the question of class inside a romance. The form follows the teen-film template but its light and camera are rawer. Handheld work, natural light, short scenes; the production is trying to separate itself from the polished teen films of the period. The most discussed aspect was its ratings process. The film was first given an adult classification; to reach a young audience the studio shortened certain scenes and got it reclassified. The director, John Stockwell, expressed dissatisfaction with those cuts. Kirsten Dunst plays Nicole and Jay Hernandez plays Carlos, with Bruce Davison as the father. Who it is for: viewers who like early-2000s teen drama and Dunst. Who it is not for: anyone expecting it to leave the template; the film lands somewhere familiar.