#48

CRAZY/BEAUTIFUL

This film features one of my favorite on screen love stories. Nicole is a wild, out of control teenager who spends her days drinking and partying. On the surface she appears to be having fun. But below the surface lies an endless amount of problems. The memory of watching her mother commit suicide when she was just 13 years old puts her in a state of depression. She copes by escaping through sex, drugs and alcohol.

But on the other side of the tracks we meet Carlos. A young Hispanic teenager. Athletic, hard working, a good student, but stuck in a bad neighborhood on the rough side of town. However, eager and determined to get out of that environment, he attends school with Nicole in a predominantly white neighborhood where he can get a better education—where he has to travel for hours everyday on a bus just to get there.

Carlos and Nicole attend the same school for years before meeting. He actually meets her for the first time while she’s doing community service at the beach. A gig she got stuck with after getting a DUI.

What makes this story so intriguing; the juxtaposition of their characters. Nicole is the daughter of a congressman. She lives in a mansion in a rich neighborhood with the opportunity for success right at her finger tips. But the traumatic events in her life prevent her from being truly happy. So she spends her time skipping class, drinking, doing drugs, not taking much of anything seriously, and basically wasting away.

But Carlos lives in what appears to be a poverty stricken neighborhood with a single parent, little money, surrounded by a rough environment. However, unlike Nicole he works hard to get out of that atmosphere and become successful. The two are such polar opposites. But that’s what attracts them to each other. She is crazy. He is beautiful. Sparks fly between these two characters, and the two actors create some of the best on screen chemistry I’ve ever seen. This really is a great love story riddled with comedy and a few tear jerker moments too.