Amor de locos

Chris O'Donnell heats up the screen and Drew Barrymore is at her sensual best in this motion picture about two teens who take an adventure together against parental wishes. I admit the first time I saw this movie last summer I didn't like it at all. But when I gave it a second try, I actually found it was really good. Because the movie isn't packed with laughs or memorable quotes, I had missed a lot of what made the movie such a good one in it's subtle, yet charming way (the first time I saw it). When I watched it a second time, however, I payed a lot more attention to the movie itself and saw that it did have delight, great acting talent and other positive notes. As well as this, the directing was fine and there were some really good shots through the characters' road trip in the movie. This is one interesting picture. A must-see! Rating: Three out of Five stars.

This wasn't necessarily a bad movie, but it wasn't that good either. It desperately tried to cash in on the teen audience, with a "hip" cast and soundtrack, but as a teenager I couldn't really relate. Chris O'Donnell's performance was pretty bland, but Drew spiced it up a bit. It started to get better towards the end when we finally got to see the extent of Drew's depression, but the first 3/4 of the movie was such a paint by numbers approach to a romance that I'm not sure that it was worth the wait. Leaves little to criticize, but even less to praise.

It seems like the title of this movie was chosen at the last minute by the guy in the business suit. "So it's about a coupla teenagers, let's say they're 'in love', and one of them has mental problems, let's call her crazy..." The film itself though, I think, resists cliches, especially the fact that the four letter word (love) was avoided, which has a tendency to suck dry any useful plot content that might be found in a movie, opting for some different ways of illustrating their relationship. The two main characters are well portrayed, and believable. I think Barrymore and O'Donnell hold together something that may not have great elements like soundtrack, plot originality etc, because despite the fact that Drew's eyebrows really annoyed me, they both did a good job.

The bipolar stuff is dead on and Barrymore sells it. O'Donnell as the significant other dealing with it is also good but the movie opens slow and takes a while to hook you and lame half-assed attempts at emotional dialogue derail it toward the end, which is too bad because a good movie on bipolar deserves to be made but this is not quite it. Joan Allen is good as always but the man playing her husband has one note. Other cast members do what they can with small parts but in the end this is a two person story. And unfortunately it is about a man in over his head written by a writer in over hers.

This is a love story, of sorts, which conflicts the viewer in that it tenderly presents this tragic heroine and then shocks the audience by eloquently demonstrating the ins and outs of the moderate-to-severe bi-polar disorder, with which the heroine attempts to live.

(The mother states her daughter suffers from depression, but Drew's depiction does NOT indicate depression alone. There are extreme highs and bottom-dipping lows, which would be more indicative of manic depression or bi-polar disorder than depression alone. Not to minimize the life-changing effects of clinical or chemical depression, because I'm not.)

Drew generates a stellar performance here, and fully sells the range of emotions her character experiences. Her portrayal is dead on perfect; in not just the disease itself, but her depth and range here is nothing short of phenomenal.

Chris O'Donnell is not as lacking as some would make one believe. He contributes an adequate performance as a young man without a clue; therefore, his character is vastly disliked because he comes off as clueless, and movie-goers associated him with the character. Go figure.

This work is seriously underrated, primarily due to the unsatisfactorily heart-wrenching ending, but also due to the audiences inability to conceive of Drew as anything but bubbly and intelligent. She customarily takes parts in which her character is put in a sweet (if rose-colored) light, whereas her role herein is quite edgy and tragic.

The screenplay itself is not solid. The flux is very fluid within this story. The only solid thing here are the performances by Drew and Chris, and the profound sadness and sense of loss experienced by its viewers via the execution of the story line.

I actually enjoyed this, though the ending IS unsettling and fails to satisfy.

It rates an 8.4/10 from...

the Fiend :.