Crazy People (1990)

A bitter ad executive who has reached his breaking point, finds himself in a mental institution where his career actually begins to thrive with the help of the hospital's patients.

Directors:

Tony Bill, Barry L. Young

Writer:

Mitch Markowitz

Stars:

Dudley Moore, Daryl Hannah, Paul Reiser

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dudley Moore	...	Emory Leeson
Daryl Hannah	...	Kathy Burgess
Paul Reiser	...	Stephen Bachman
J.T. Walsh	...	Drucker
Bill Smitrovich	...	Bruce
Alan North	...	Judge
David Paymer	...	George
Danton Stone	...	Saabs
Paul Bates	...	Robles
Dick Cusack	...	Mort
Doug Yasuda	...	Hsu
Floyd Vivino	...	Eddie Aris
Mercedes Ruehl	...	Dr. Liz Baylor
Ben Hammer	...	Dr. Koch
David Packer	...	Mark Olander

Storyline

Emory works in advertising, and is beginning to crack-up. His latest idea is honesty, e.g. "Volvos, Yes they are boxy, but they're safe". This doesn't go down too well with the boss, so Emory is sent to a psychiatric hospital to 'recover'. Meanwhile, back at the office, Emory's work is accidentally sent to the printers. His ads are a huge success. But now Emory has fallen for Kathy (another patient) and so doesn't want to leave.

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Plot Keywords:

mental institution | advertising | helicopter pilot | u.s. army | barn | 

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Taglines:

A comedy about truth in advertising.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 April 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Les fous de la pub

Filming Locations:

Chatham, Virginia, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$13,236,513

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Intuitive TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Some scenes differ slightly from those in the trailer:

• The line "You can't tell the truth, you idiot" from the trailer has "asshole" instead of "idiot" in the movie.
• The text of the Jaguar ad reads "for men who want special attention" in the trailer and "for men who want hand jobs" in the movie.

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Quotes

Kathy: Hold me. Please hold me.
Emory Leeson: I am holding you.
Kathy: I know, but it's a woman thing. I have to say it.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits, a "special issue" of Advertising Age spins in, with a cover portrait proclaiming the main characters to be "Emperors of Madison Ave."

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Crazy People/Impulse/In the Spirit/The Gods Must Be Crazy II/Mama, There's a Man in Your Bed (1990)

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Soundtracks

CONTINENTAL EXPRESS COMMERCIAL
Music by Michael Portis and Richard Kosinski

User Reviews

Worth the dollar I paid for it

My brother and I spotted this when we were renting a movie in one of those big discount bins of random movies. We sometimes enjoy watching stupid movies just for the hell of it and thought thats what it was going to turn out to be. We were pleasantly surprised with about the first half of the movie. Take out the throughly unnecessary love story and this movie could be an hour shorter and would probably get a much higher rating. Now I sometimes watch it, fast forwarding through the tedious bits. I would recommend it, but I don't know that I would pay more than a coupla bucks for the pleasure of watching it. It's the kind of movie that you get excited about showing friends, and glow with pride at finding such a great movie for a good part of but then sit around uncomfortably for stretches of it because you know they are inexcusably boring.