Crazy/Beautiful (2001)

At Pacific Palisades High, a poor Latino falls hard for a troubled girl from an affluent neighborhood.

Director:

John Stockwell

Writers:

Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi

Stars:

Kirsten Dunst, Jay Hernandez, Bruce Davison

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kirsten Dunst	...	Nicole Oakley
Jay Hernandez	...	Carlos Nuñez
Bruce Davison	...	Tom Oakley
Herman Osorio	...	Luis
Miguel Castro	...	Eddie
Tommy De La Cruz	...	Victor
Rolando Molina	...	Hector
Soledad St. Hilaire	...	Mrs. Nunez
Lucinda Jenney	...	Courtney Oakley
Taryn Manning	...	Maddy
Richard Steinmetz	...	Coach Bauer
Ana Argueta	...	Rosa
Neil Looy	...	Jimmy - The Pilot
Marion Moseley	...	Morgan Oakley
Mike Jones	...	Dr. Linehan

Storyline

Jay Hernandez stars as Carlos Nunez, a poor but athletically gifted Latino teenager who endures a two-hour bus ride every day from East L.A. to attend the posh, wealthy Pacific Palisades High School in Los Angeles on a football scholarship. A straight-A student, Carlos is focused and driven, but his future is cast in doubt when he becomes the flirtation target of spoiled, self-destructive bad girl Nicole Oakley (Kirsten Dunst), who's the daughter of a prominent congressman (Bruce Davison). When his friends, family, and even Nicole's own father oppose the romance for Carlos' sake, he chooses to ignore their advice and stubbornly pursues his relationship with Nicole, whose feelings grow from simple physical attraction to something much deeper.

---

Plot Keywords:

female nudity | curvacious woman | self destructiveness | teenage angst | teenage rebel | 

---

Taglines:

When it's real. When it's right. Don't let anything stand in your way.

---

Genres:

Drama | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving teens, drug/alcohol content, sexuality & language

Details

Official Sites:

Touchstone

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 June 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

About 17

Filming Locations:

Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,715,060, 1 July 2001, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$16,929,123, 26 August 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Ufland Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min 135 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Maddy's Bronco license plate, 2GAT123, was also used in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Traffic (2000), Pay It Forward (2000), Mulholland Drive (2001), L.A. Story (1991), Two and a Half Men (2003), S.W.A.T. (2003), and Go (1999)

---

Goofs

The blue plastic bottle is in a different position on the ground when the teacher picks it up.

---

Quotes

Nicole: 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.

---

Alternate Versions

The film was originally planned as a R rated feature, but then Disney executives decided to cut the film for a more commercial PG-13 rating. To do this 35 obscenities were deleted, a sex scene was bowdlerized and a character's drug use was deleted.

---

Connections

Features Ed, Edd n Eddy (1999)

---

Soundtracks

Supercombo Electronico
Written by Alejandro Rosso, Juan Jose Gonzales and Chris Allison
Performed by Plastilina Mosh
Courtesy of AstralWerks

User Reviews

Wild rich white schoolgirl and much poorer Latino form a relationship. Great acting. Sensitively portrayed

In Crazy Beautiful Kirsten Dunst (Interview With A Vampire, Bring It On) plays Nicole a rich girl at high school who befriends a first generation Mexican lad called Carlos (Jay Hernandez).

Nicole and Carlos hit it off in spite of Carlos's reservations about the wild (crazy/beautiful) Nicole. He's from a poor family and keen to do well at his studies. She's on a path of self destruction, at least academically, probably physically. Carlos hopes to go to the navy academy and become a pilot.

Now this sounds fairly ho hum but is brought successfully to the screen by very strong acting performances from both Dunst and Hernandez and also by Bruce Davison who plays Nicole's Dad Tom.

These characters are flawed and therefore interesting. The film is mindful of how complicated real people are.

Nicole is a carouser, drunk or stoned most of the time. Jay is level headed but becomes overwhelmed by Nicole. Dad certainly doesn't think he has all of the answers.

Crazy/Beautiful is inspired a little by the inter racial aspect of the relationship but much more by the veracity of the performances.

4 Crazy Flys Out Of Five