Cool and the Crazy (1994)
* (out of 4)
High school sweethearts Roslyn (Alicia Silverstone) and Michael (Jared Leto) think that their wholes lives are going to be perfect but after a year of bills piling up and a baby, the two find themselves falling apart. Roslyn begins dating bad boy Joey (Matthew Flint) after her girlfriend (Jennifer Blanc) tells her that cheating will make everything better. Ralph Bakshi directs his own screenplay, which is just a partial remake of the 1956 AIP film. COOL AND THE CRAZY is beyond stupid in so many ways and it features so many bad things that fans of things so bad they're good might be entertained by this. I'm really not sure what Bakshi was thinking but his screenplay is incredibly stupid from the word go and it never gets any better. I'm really not sure if he was expecting the viewer to care for this couple but both of them come across as complete idiots and not for a second do you ever care what happens to them. In fact, I'd say they're both so dumb at times that the viewer will get some pleasure out of seeing bad things happen to them. Another major problem is that the performances are really, really bad at times. Both Silverstone and Leto were "new" at this point in their careers so how bad they are here can be forgiven. Nevermind the fact that you never believe them as 50's teenagers but the dramatics they bring to their characters are laughable. Not for a second were either one believable in the parts. Flint isn't any better as the bad boy who comes across more like a brat than anything else. Sadly Blanc comes off even worse and just check out the scene where she goes off on her friend's husband. Just look at how over-the-top it is and tell me you could watch this without laughing. This was part of Showtime's Rebel Highway series and this here did take advantage of updated times by adding in some salty language, nudity and some sex scenes. These updated things certainly didn't help and in the end COOL AND THE CRAZY is a complete misfire.
