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Crazy in Alabama
Sony / Columbia
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 |
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.
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.
60
Variety
Todd McCarthy
The opposition of the two dramas winds up in gratifyingly moral and philosophical territory.
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.
60
The New York Times
Elvis Mitchell
Banderas directs capably enough to keep the film lively.
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.
50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
An ungainly fit of three stories that have no business being shoehorned into the same movie.
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.
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.
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.
50
Dallas Observer
Luke Y. Thompson
Feels like two films that aren't closely related enough, either tonally or narratively, to warrant their intertwining.
50
Austin Chronicle
Steve Davis
There's much to enjoy here as long as your expectations aren't too high.
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.
40
Salon.com
Mary Elizabeth Williams
Disappoints with its simplistic, hollow narrative and characters.
40
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
The juxtaposition of grim reality and pure fantasy doesn't work...the entire film seem artificial and contrived.
33
Entertainment Weekly
Steve Daly
As campy as a flick by Banderas' evident artistic mentor, Pedro Almódovar.
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.
30
Film.com
Moira Macdonald
Appears to be several different movies spliced together, with unfortunate results.
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.
25
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
Although Banderas occasionally shows flashes of style, individual elements too often go together like grits in a puff pastry.
 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.
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