While not quite as ridiculous as "Reefer Madness", "The Cool and the Crazy" is a ridiculous propaganda film designed to warn folks that marijuana kills! While filled with lies, it is quite unintentionally funny. Now my expectations for "The Cool and the Crazy" were low to begin with....with such a nutty title and the film coming from American International Pictures!
Benny (Scott Marlowe) is a new cool 'kid' who arrives at some high school. I put kid in quotes because he and the rest of the students are generally in their upper 20s! Anyway, he's a rebel and the kids soon are won over to his coolness. Then, he introduces them to marijuana...and soon he's out of control and going through withdrawal because he's become addicted and hell-bent on self-destruction!
This film is packed with misinformation--the type that actually ended up encouraging kids to use pot. After all, in the film, Benny uses it and soon becomes out of control and suicidal. But when folks see that none of this really happens with folks they know who use pot, they tend to ignore and laugh at such over-the-top warnings.
So is it any good? Not really. The acting isn't bad and the look and style of the film are good...but the story itself is goofy and silly at times. But, it is unintentionally funny...and is worth seeing in this light.
