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

The scene in which Nicole buries Carlos in a hole in the sand, with only his head above ground, and takes a picture, the original caption for the photo was "In Nicole's Hole". It was changed to "I Love Nicole" in order to maintain a PG-13 rating.

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Goofs

Nicole's hair color changes from blonde to red and back to blonde. The whole movie her hair is blonde except during the hotel scene when she is outside wrapped in a blanket and tells Carlos she wants to be good for him it is red. The next shot, when they are in the car taking her back home her hair is blonde again and stays that way through the rest of the movie. The red hair was due to Kirsten Dunst starting to film Spider-Man

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Quotes

Courtney Oakley: What kind of daughter are you?
Nicole: Not yours.
Courtney Oakley: Thank god for that.

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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.

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Connections

Featured in Beyond Clueless (2014)

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Soundtracks

Elegance
Written and Performed by David Snell
Courtesy of Associated Production Music

User Reviews

It touches the heart. It holds the interest with old material rendered fresh by the cast.

This is a defining role for Kirsten Dunst. She demonstrates the talent to carry a film, from beginning to end. She was great as Lux in the Virgin Suicides, and demonstrated a penchant for comedy in Dick. As Nicole - she dominates in a dramatic role, arcing from crazy - to 'Crazy'; from beautiful and then to 'Beautiful' with Jay Hernandez as boyfriend and catalyst. We'll be seeing a lot more of Jay in the years upcoming too. No doubt about it. And Taryn Manning (best friend, Maddy) has a lot more to share with her growing legion of fans. She's a major contributor to this film's success.

It touches the heart. It holds the interest with old material rendered fresh by a cast that jelled together. A superb romantic comedy for all ages. 7 / 10.