Crazy People

This is definitely one of the movies that portrays the best the way advertising should be... or shouldn't be! It made me laugh a lot. My favorite slogan from all is "Come In The Bahamas" :-)

This is just one of those movies that you can just enjoy. A very pleasing movie with a ton of memorable lines. If only advertising was really like this. See "The Freak", this movie will not only scare you, it will f**k you up for life! A classic.

Emory Leeson (Dudley Moore) and Stephen Bachman (Paul Reiser) are writing partners in a New York ad agency. Frustrated Emory develops writer's block after his wife leaves him taking everything. He's tired of lying and his painfully honest ads infuriate their boss Drucker (J.T. Walsh). Bachman sends him to a psychiatric retreat in the care of Dr. Liz Baylor (Mercedes Ruehl). His ads are accidentally released and become hugely successful. Drucker sends Bachman to get him back but he has fallen for beautiful Kathy Burgess (Daryl Hannah) and the relaxed lifestyle. He and the group of misfits start writing highly successful ads.

The ads are fun. The idea of satire on the advertising industry has promise. The execution has some fun moments with the crazy people group. The romance however has no heat. Hannah is nice but there is little chemistry. The Drucker villain is too broad. The satire has no bite. It's not horrible but it's forgettable.

"Crazy People" is about an advertising executive who goes nuts and starts writing "honest" television commercials, as opposed to the puffery and outright lies we have come to know and expect. Naturally, they lock him up. But, lo and behold, the honest approach actually works, so the agency enlists the help of the entire population of the mental hospital to write ads.

The ads themselves are hilarious, as are some of the scenes. There is one very funny scene in which calloused and savvy advertising execs try to write honest ads, but find they are too jaded.

The film could have done without a subplot involving a romance between Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah. Other than that, it is definitely worth your time.***

Truth in advertising... if only it were so! No, it's not the slickest film and the performances are just a bit flat, but there's a lot of good material to work with. The "R" rating is for a lot of scattered profanity (which really isn't necessary, but.. wait! wait! here's a slogan for Hollywood screenwriters: "We're really stupid dullards, but we say 'F---' a lot so you'll think we're smart!"), but if you can stand it, this movie has a lot of funny moments. Darryl Hannah playes a cute dysfunctional inmate who falls for a stressed-out and temporarily committed Dudley Moore - there's a lot stolen from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" here, but it's entertaining enough that you shouldn't mind. Worth watching at least once.