"Crazy Eyes" : Purposeless Drunken Missconnection

Rarely would I reduced the core of my opinion on a film to just one word. Specially if such word has a terribly negative connotation. To call a film "boring" is not an understatement, for most people a 3 hour film by master Bella Tarr, might be defined as boring, I dont believe that to be the case. Even in the apparent slowness or complete meditative state of such films, a purpose is found, an interest to build a sense of hopelessness in the audience. Therefore, to consider a film to be "boring" implies the existence some flaws such as: a repetitive and pointless use of certain situations, a complete lack of interest for the characters, a painfully bane protagonist, generic, and I dare to say, bad acting from some of the cast, and a sense of anxiety for the film to be over as it seems to get nowhere, or say anything new or relevant about nothing at all. All of this qualities are fixed into "Crazy Eyes", a film which aims to be profound about love, loneliness, and alcoholism, but with all its pretentious voice overs and artsy shots fails to ignite anything in itself or the viewer. The characters in here live in an eternal hangover, physically and emotionally, they seem to have no concern for anything in their lives besides "going for a drink". In fact, if you dare to count how many times someone in the film mentions phrases like "Let's go for a drink", " I need a drink", "I'm drunk" or anything that implies their desperate need to ingest alcohol, you might lose count in the first 30 minutes. A rich guy with a bunch of women on call for his pleasures, his drunk and enabling buddy who, not surprisingly, owns a bar, and the one girl who wont let him have sex with her are basically all his concerns. Oh yeah, once in a while we are reminded he has a kid and parents. Painfully trying to be over realistic, and placing itself  deeply into the abyss of forgettable, never-to-watch-again category of films.

Zach (Lukas Haas) is your textbook millionaire playboy; although it is never clear where does his money come from, but we sure know how he spends it. He drinks his life away in the company of his buddy Dan (Jake Busey) and a bunch of random girls who only want his money. One night he meets a certain girl named Rebecca (Madeline Zima), and instantly names her affectionately "crazy eyes". She becomes the classic nemesis of a rich guy who can have anyone he wants, she is the one he cant have. Even if he constantly tries to force her, Rebecca refuses to have sex with him. She is the special one,at least until she gives him what he wants. There is endless episodes of drinking at the bar, going to bed and spending a sexless night together, and the never ending hangovers. These repetitive and monotonous ordeals are sparkled a couple times by a bar fight here, or some coke there, and the always failed plan of going to an art exhibit. Zach is made to seem kind of more human when we see his "attempts" at parenthood, talking to his kid about the absence of God and other random topics like such. Then we meet his parents who seem really obnoxious even for Zach's standards, but hey at least we are lead to believe he actually gives a damn about his family. There is nothing really special about the story, no revealing twist, no heartbreaking anything, no punishment, no payoff, just plain and simple as someones life (probably rich guys watching this connected with him). Definitely not a single strong reason to care for Zach, maybe a bit for "crazy eyes" but that's a stretch.

The acting is for the most part bad, unless the sort of ridiculous, unrealistic approach was what the director required. Haas seems monotone the entire film, one real angry burst, and then just bland, soulless alcoholism, just a dread to watch his character on screen. The rest of the secondary characters are to say the least underachieved, none of them really stand out, maybe not the actors' fault, but the characters they were presented with. The one and only exception is Madeline Zima as Rebecca, who is the one complex and layered character in this gray panorama. We don't know much about her but that plays to her advantage, she is a drunk but not a whore, she is smart but really, like her nickname, a bit crazy and unpredictable. At times one wishes the story was more about her,a real person, than about the collection of bad voice overs and cliches Zach becomes. Zima has real charm and is the one good thing about this long and purposeless "Entourage" wannabe of a film.

The film is pretty. Very superficial and bane in its visuals, but sadly also in its plot. Nice cinematography and... well that is it. Something that under no circumstance I would sit down and watch again. I'm sure that writer/director Adam Sherman had a real message to get through with this film, and I can see that. Maybe he tried to comment on the way life loses purpose in many ways when extreme financial success is achieved, or maybe the replaceable nature of love and how it can change so fast, who knows what his intent truly was. However,  whatever this was, it failed to engaged and that is a deadly sin when it comes to movies. If alcoholism, self-destruction, bored millionaires and sexless affairs are your thing then this might fulfill  all of your peculiar needs, otherwise save yourself the trouble. If you still must see it for yourself, "Crazy Eyes" is out tomorrow on DVD. Grade C-