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.

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Plot Keywords:

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

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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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)

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Goofs

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

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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.

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Alternate Versions

The film was submitted five times to the MPAA to achieve a PG-13 instead of a R rating.

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Connections

References Mad Love (1995)

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Soundtracks

I Want to Believe You
Written, Produced and Performed by Lori Carson and Paul Haslinger

User Reviews

Excellent!!! A cut above, WAY above, most other "teen" movies!

"Crazy/beautiful" is a wonderful movie. It is really far better than most teen movies. When I saw the trailers and TV spots for the movie last year, I was unimpressed. The impression I got was that the movie was another one of those teen jobs wherein the director and the actors all take themselves WAY too seriously! Kind of like a Charlie Sheen movie, back when he was having all those ego problems. (Sheen is much recovered, and much over himself now. He's a charming fellow these days, and a great talent.)

I bought the DVD the other day, and am very happy that I did. I should have trusted that a talent such as Kirsten Dunst would not have placed herself in tripe. Sorry! This movie is thoughtfully written, sensitively acted, and very well directed and cut. I am not a teenager anymore (far away from it, in fact), so I am not impressed by hipness, hormonal chic, nor teen cool. Thus I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that "crazy/beautiful" is rich, touching, engaging, moving, uplifting, and extremely entertaining. Yaay!

Hey Buena Vista marketing people--- please note that the movie you seemed to have presented via your trailers and such last year looked like crap! And yet the real movie, the one Kirsten and Whatshisname made, is sweet and marvelous!!! I know you marketing folks meant well, and all marketing is some form of experiment, but perhaps you can learn from this that the audiences needn't be sold cliched garbage to go see a film. In fact, the apparent cliches presented in the trailers kept me away. Thank goodness for DVD!

Finally--- the DVD is also great. The "making of" segment is amazing, and worthy of it's own venue. The director's commentary with Dunst is also intriguing. It all adds to our enjoyment of the movie. Thanks, guys!