Cool and the Crazy

I think it actually does need to be viewed. Its awfulness is actually compelling.

A melodrama, sketches from the lives of three couples celebrating their weddings at the same time. All of them decide to get married early, although by the standards of the 1950s this fact is not really something special. Despite the seemingly serious attitude at first, and the fact that two couples have children, they themselves are in many ways far from understanding adult life and the concept of responsibility as such - they quarrel like teenagers, without looking, go on spontaneous benders, commit rash acts, confusing one thing or another with some abstract freedom, which they themselves cannot define. As usual, petty squabbles and random connections eventually accumulate like a snowball and one day can / will come out sideways. As a result, it can be concluded that watching the twists and turns of young and sometimes hysterical newlyweds who are not particularly smart is more boring than interesting, regardless of the relative vitality of the stories in question, as real life can be very different.

There is a 1958 film with the same name, "The Cool and the Crazy", but apart from the name and some subtleties, it does not have any common plot features with the 1994 version, which, among other things, separately suggests the idea of how much the later film adaptations are in fact a free narrative with a predominance of the vision of the directors of the 1990s and how much they actually reflect the spirit of the past.

The idea of the movie isn't so bad, the casting was pretty good, however neither of the actors were very convincing in their roles. Everything was predictable and not much seemed to be happening. The movie title also isn't that great, they could have come up with something more appealing. What I hated most was probably the last 20-30 minutes, when it's all screaming. The boys screaming, Roslyn screaming, Joey screaming... everybody was screaming, crying, it was all just a giant noise pollution. Whenever someone had a line, the screaming was in the background. Worst 20 minutes of my life. I wouldn't recommend this movie, it was a huge disappointment.

I never saw "Beverly Hills 90210," but I did see "Rebel Without a Cause". It's possible that this film could be a hybrid of both with its "who's going to sack up with whom" dramatics, as well as the occasional flashes of gang violence and car chases. This story, however, is set in the '50s.

Alicia Silverstone and Jared Leto were high-school-sweethearts-turned-young marrieds-with-an-unplanned-child couple who struggle to find themselves amid a marriage gone sour. Alicia is cheating on Jared with bad-boy Joey (Matthew Flint, in a loud, obnoxious performance), so Jared decides to get even.

The film's jazz soundtrack adds some ambience to the film, and the seedy look of L.A. during the fifties is OK, but on the whole, "The Cool and the Crazy" is mainly for fans of the stars. Ralph Bakshi might want to stick to his cartoons from now on...

Unhappily married couple Roslyn (Alicia Silverstone) and Michael (Jared Leto) lead separate affairs that lead to violent repercussions for all.

This was one of the last films from American International Pictures, produced by Lou Arkoff and Debra Hill. The director was Ralph Bakshi, who had made his name with "Fritz the Cat" and "Heavy Traffic".

Some credit should be given for the casting, as both leads have now gone on to bigger things and most likely few people have ever seen or even heard of this picture (hardly a gem).

What is most strange is the morality of the narrative. Cheating is not so much a bad thing in itself (according to this film), but bad when things turn violent with the competition. So, I guess, if married women choose better men to have affairs with, the whole thing is no big deal...