Crazy as Hell

I'd never heard of "Crazy As Hell" before seeing it, but I watched it on a whim. It was entertaining enough to keep my attention, but I was kind of waiting for it to end. The film just lacked intensity, which was odd considering the subject matter. Sadly, it just kind of dragged and not a whole lot happened. It felt like a Twilight Zone episode that was stretched into a two hour film. And, like many old Twilight Zone episodes, it dealt with a very one-dimensional character with a painfully obvious character flaw (in this case: arrogance/ego). Our main character isn't all that likable and doesn't seem to have anything at stake, so why should I care what happens to him? There are a lot of not-so-subtle clues and symbols. Oddly, many of them seemed like plot flaws and turned out to be intentional later on. For example (without giving anything away) in first scene, Ty stops his car then back up and accidentally backs his car over a glass bottle right behind his tire - why didn't he run it over it when he first pulled up? I dismissed this as a movie mistake, but it actually made sense in retrospect. Like a lot of the movie, it was so simple and obvious that I actually DIDN'T notice it.

"Crazy As Hell" is ER's Eriq LaSalle's directorial debut and it is a good one to watch. Although the movie did not receive much credits,I personally thought it was quite insightful entering the daunting world of a mental institution. Eric did a good job directing this rather uncomfortable topic and kept it up reasonably well as a provokative thriller.

The uncomfortable topic was how do we cure mental illness? It is generally accepted by the scientific world of today,that mental illness is a body of chemical imbalances. One cures it with medication-and lots of it(to be read as...keep the insane as sedated as the Law will permit you to!) How can we say anyone is cured,if they depend on chemicals by the hour? What happens if they missed a dosage-whether accidentally or purposely???

Crazy As Hell argues that other non-medicinal approaches may actually be the solution if we view mental illness as the imbalance of perspectives. Which means,therapy is the better permanent solution. Problem is,(you really have to see this movie for yourself)to be reminded of just how insane and derange most of the patients in a mental institution are. They are simply impossible to talk to,much less to be given therapy. The ones whom you can actually converse with,are so in their psychosis,before you can remotely attempt to cure them they will drive you nuts first! Because there is a good chance that anyone of us could lose a big chunk of our mental capacity is very frightening cause you'll never know what to expect(especially when dealing with mental patients in a funny farm,much less the faculty that works there too).

Only this movie and two others that had come this close to studies of mental patients,"Shock Corridor"(1963);"One Flew Over The Cuckcoo's Nest"-Oscar winner(1975),"Sybil"(1977)-Emmy winner,and most recently; "Girl Interrupted"-Oscar winner(2001)---this one gives a long hard look at goes on inside the minds of certain individuals,especially if they had the capacity to snap at any second.

There were parts of this film which I did not like at all, because of the initial portrayal of the hospital and the patients. I worked Psych for 9 years and there were some scenes that were true to life, but overall, they were played for shock/humour. Having said this, I was distracted from these shortcomings by the excellent acting of the entire cast and when Mr.La Salle and Mr. Beach encounter each other, the sparks fly. I had no idea where the film was going but I was glad for the ride; these two guys display their talents and there is no doubt that you are seeing two masters at work. Some of the characters seemed superfluous to me, but the author did also write the screen play so I'll assume that he knew what he was doing (Big of me, don't you think?) I didn't care for the ending,and frankly, I thought it was an unoriginal cop-out, but the lead up to it - the chase, the revelation, made it bearable. Also, is there anything Ronnie Cox can't do?

The first thing that struck me about this film was how trite and over-simplified much of the subject matter was. At first it bothered me; the characters were pretty two-dimensional and the patients in the mental ward seemed very unrealistic. The whole movie took on a superficial and untrue feel that left me uninvolved and failed to suspend my disbelief. However, as the film goes on, you realize this may be on purpose. The film takes on a Lynch-ian feel that culminates in an ending that clearly explains why everything was so simple, shallow, and "perfect". I appreciate Eriq for not shoving the ending down our throat. He is obviously talented and deserves recognition for following through with a film that failed to get support from Hollywood because it isn't a cookie-cutter re-make of the films that Black film-makers continue to crank out. On the other hand, the story wasn't particularly unique either. It very much reminded me of a low-budget "Jacob's Ladder" with a simpler story-line and much more limited production resources. Eriq LaSalle is a great human being with enormous talent and, more importantly, a great perspective on what is important in life. He isn't quite willing to play into the Hollywood system, and although you couldn't tell from this film, he seems to understand the powerful role his artform can play in lifting up (or keeping down) his people. I respect him immensely and I expect great things from him in the future.

This movie is so twisted, what I l ♥ v e about it is that it's not your typical Hollywood American movie, the concept is different too. This movie is twisted and it makes you want to watch all over again to get all the clues. Eric la salle is very creative with his perspective also how every little detail from the first line is a clue. The plot is so, CRAZY! Eric la salle deserves P R O P S for this movie especially with such a budget and the amount of time he was given to put together this thriller think about the circumstances. now I'm not going to spoil the ending for you but the summary says it all crazy as hell crazy thrill! I ---L ♥ V E D--- this movie!