Crazy Beautiful
In the film Crazy Beautiful director John Stockwell wanted to say that human life involves 2 kinds of loves. Both kinds are expressed by Nicole Oakley, the main character, in her attitude toward her family and her boyfriend in this movie.
The movie begins when a few teenagers, Nicole and a few Latin American boys meet as she cleans a beach in one of the community jobs as payback for her D.W.I. One of those boys is Carlos. At that time, Nicole meets Carlos when they glance at each other. Nicole is a congressman’s daughter. She is wild and uses to drugs. Carlos is the son of poor Mexican-American family. He is a good looking, polite young man, and excellent student in his high school. They both study in Pacific Palisades high school for rich boys and girls. The big difference between Carlos and most students is that Carlos wakes up early every day, to a long journey of 2 hours in a bus, while Nicole lives in one of the best neighbourhood in west L.A., and goes to her school by her own fancy car. These two are “Crazy Beautiful.”
A few days after their first meeting, Nicole and Carlos meet again at school. Day by day, their relationship becomes closer until they become lovers. One day Carlos visits Nicole’s home. While he is there, he meets with Nicole’s father, Tom Oakley. He introduces himself and tells of his dream to attend Annapolis. He makes an appointment with the congressman, which is not easy for a high school student. He is lucky. Also, Carlos finds that Nicole has a poor relationship with her family, especially, with the step mother.
Carlos spends most of his free time with Nicole. He misses the appointment with Nicole’s father because he gets side-tracked by Nicole. A few days later he arranges a new appointment with Mr. Oakley who warns Carlos to stay away from Nicole. He tells Carlos that Nicole’s mother had committed suicide when Nicole was 12 years old. Since that time, Nicole’s behavior has changed for the worse. He adds that Nicole has become unpopular with almost every one except her friends. Also, she is person who isn’t welcome (persona non grata), so she can be so destructive, but he loves his daughter. Also, he doesn’t know how to handle this problem.
After meeting Mr. Oakley, Carlos feels that his relationship with Nicole begins to deteriorate. He can’t cut their relationship off completely because he has honestly fallen in love with Nicole. One night Carlos’s mother tries to get Carlos to go back to his old girl friend, but he doesn’t like her any more and calls Nicole who is at a party. Carlos goes there to pick her up. They leave the party together, but later decide to return, but are arrested by the police because the car’s plates had expired. The police also find a kind of marijuana in the back seat. The police escort the two of them to Nicole’s home. When Carlos arrives at Mr. Oakley‘s home, he says he has really fallen in love with Nicole.
The next day, Mr. Oakley is angry, and orders Nicole to leave town. He thinks that is the best way to break off the relationship. At the high school Carlos leaves the examination room without permission in order to visit with Nicole in the hall.
Then, Nicole tells Carlos she has to move to another city. They decide to run away, and spend a romantic night together, and Carlos tells Nicole that she should talk to her father heart to heart. He adds that her father loves her. While they are having a good time, Mr. Oakley is worriedly calling her friends to find her. When Nicole arrives at home, Tom is phoning the last person on his list.
Fortunately, in this time, Nicole and her father have a heart to heart talk and reach a deeper understanding than ever before. Carlos is waiting for Nicole outside her home. He is surprised when she emerges in a happy mood. Their relationship is strengthened, Nicole’s behavior has improved, and Carlos’s dream of Annapolis comes true.
Reaction
This movie is a great executed romantic teen movie, and it shows how teenagers are able to combine both their intellect and emotions to overcome some very superficial barriers, “which create profound rifts among human society.”Also, we can see a typical American high school for rich boys and girls and its atmosphere. Moreover, some important social concepts are expressed in the film, especially, deviance that Nicole and her friends smoke and drink under age, and some social controls that Nicole cleans the beach in a communitarian jobs as payback for a D.W.I.
When I was watching this movie I wondered about why Mr. Oakley who told his daughter’s poisoned behaviour when he met with Carlos at his office room. I asked myself “if I were Tom what should I do in that situation? I wouldn’t say Carlos “Stay away from my daughter.” I would talk with Carlos how to handle her problem with him. If our plan doesn’t work he should stop the relationship.
Lastly, I found a new idea that when I have children I should spend my free time with my children for a while even I am so busy. If parents spend their free time a little bit they can talk their children heart to heart. As a result of talking parents with their children heart to heart, the children probably behave through right way, and parents can control their children. It means that children need both parents’ near relationship and “limit.”