CNET Networks Entertainment GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games Books TV
Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

DVD and Video

Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Recent Releases in DVD and Video

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.



Crazy in Alabama
Sony / Columbia

Crazy in Alabama reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 46 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
10.0 out of 10
based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 2 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some violence, thematic material, language and a scene of sensuality

Starring Melanie Griffith, David Morse, Lucas Black, Cathy Moriarty, Meat Loaf, and Rod Steiger

Two unusual stories meet and intertwine in Crazy in Alabama, a poignant and captivating comedy-drama set in Los Angeles and the Deep South during the height of the civil rights era. (Columbia Tristar)


GENRE(S): Drama  
WRITTEN BY: Mark Childress (also novel)  
DIRECTED BY: Antonio Banderas  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: March 28, 2000 
Video: March 28, 2000 
Theatrical: October 22, 1999 
RUNNING TIME: 111 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Risks trivializing history and pandering to feminist fantasies, but it may be the year's most fearless movie.
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
Funny, eccentric and touchingly just, combining a unique interpretation of the time with an offbeat sense of humor.
Read Full Review
74
Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
Banderas may have been crazy to make such a heady directorial debut, but it's hard not to be charmed by his ambitions.
63
Boston Globe Jay Carr
The pieces don't always fit together smoothly, but there's a lot of flavorful work to savor.
Read Full Review
60
Variety Todd McCarthy
The opposition of the two dramas winds up in gratifyingly moral and philosophical territory.
Read Full Review
60
TNT RoughCut Sjohnna McCray
Banderas has taken a brilliant novel and made a small movie with lots of bright moments, and honestly, that's quite an accomplishment for his debut.
60
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Takes a while to arrive at what it has to say, but some of the performances kept me occupied in the meantime.
Read Full Review
60
The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
Banderas directs capably enough to keep the film lively.
Read Full Review
50
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
It's troubling to watch it stray and ramble as first-time director Antonio Banderas struggles to pull disparate elements together.
Read Full Review
50
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
An ungainly fit of three stories that have no business being shoehorned into the same movie.
Read Full Review
50
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Banderas' direction is a bit of everything and a lot of not much.
50
Film.com John Hartl
An Almodovar-like blend of laughs, drama and uplift, filled with the kinds of pop-art colors and pop-out performances that Almodovar loves.
Read Full Review
50
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Inadvertently does with the civil rights movement exactly what Banderas set out not to do: trivializes it.
50
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Mismatch of tone and material.
Read Full Review
50
USA Today Mike Clark
Were some group to launch a rival to the Oscars called The Wackys, it could do worse than make crazed Crazy its first recipient.
50
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Tries with intermittent success to juggle two stories.
Read Full Review
50
Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
Feels like two films that aren't closely related enough, either tonally or narratively, to warrant their intertwining.
Read Full Review
50
Austin Chronicle Steve Davis
There's much to enjoy here as long as your expectations aren't too high.
Read Full Review
40
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Somehow, Lucille's plight is meant to comment astutely on the civil-rights movement. Now that IS crazy.
40
LA Weekly Nicole Campos
The two disparate yet thematically linked storylines are far too faithfully transposed for a feature-length treatment -- crammed together, they're denied the space to flesh out as a cohesive whole.
Read Full Review
40
Salon.com Mary Elizabeth Williams
Disappoints with its simplistic, hollow narrative and characters.
Read Full Review
40
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
The juxtaposition of grim reality and pure fantasy doesn't work...the entire film seem artificial and contrived.
Read Full Review
33
Entertainment Weekly Steve Daly
As campy as a flick by Banderas' evident artistic mentor, Pedro Almódovar.
Read Full Review
30
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
(Griffith's) appearance often verges on the grotesque. Which, come to think of it, could be said of the movie as well.
Read Full Review
30
Film.com Moira Macdonald
Appears to be several different movies spliced together, with unfortunate results.
Read Full Review
30
Washington Post Rita Kempley
Mark Childress, who wrote the screenplay based upon his book of the same name, would have been better off leaving this Southern Gothic between two covers.
Read Full Review
25
Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
Although Banderas occasionally shows flashes of style, individual elements too often go together like grits in a puff pastry.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Dana L. gave it a 10:
I love this movie.

Kevin W. gave it a 10:
One of the great underrated films of the 1990s. Check it out! Funny, moving, and unlike any other movie.

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | BOOKS | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

About CNET Networks | Jobs | Advertise | Partnerships                                Visit other CNET Networks sites:

Copyright ©2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use