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.

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.

Matt Leland (Chris O'Donnell) has talkative best friend Eric (Matthew Lillard). Matt is taken with new girl Casey Roberts (Drew Barrymore). They begin a wild relationship. She gets suspended and her parents put her away. He helps her escape the psych ward and they go on a road trip. However, her manic depressive state gets more volatile and beyond his ability to help.

I never bought Chris O'Donnell as a romantic lead. He's too white bread and doesn't have the passion. This is love at first sight and who can blame him. Drew can do that to many men but I don't see them as Romeo and Juliet. Drew is convincing with mental illness but it is a little overwrought. I'm not really that invested in this relationship. This is a lesser 90s teen melodrama.

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 :.

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.