Crazy
Crazy
| 08 June 2000 (USA)
Crazy Trailers

Benjamin, a 16-year-old with lousy grades, switches to a boarding school in order to eventually reach grammar school. Adjusting to his new environment is difficult as he has to struggle with being a teen... specially when he falls in love to the school's dream girl, Malen.

Reviews
jillmcvoy

if you love crazy watchhttps://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=bzCyO4As3x4 a YouTube video of this old man goes crazy his head will explode from yelling so much enjoy watching he is going nuts he can hardly speak so watch this old man goes crazy he will shock you

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Horst in Translation ([email protected])

"Crazy" is a German 95-minute movie from 2000, so this one is already over 15 years old. It is among the most known works of writer and director Hans-Christian Schmid and he got many actors in here that will be recognized immediately by German film buffs. This includes Stadlober, Klaußner, Schilling, Manzel, Müller-Elmau, Hummer, Herfurth (very first career performance) and Lara, maybe others too. As this film is already approaching the two-decade mark, most of these were still pretty young at that point. The film won several awards and score more nominations, also at the German Film Awards where it was picked as one of the three best movies of the year. I cannot share this praise though. The film's biggest strength is realism. It does not try to depict a world or a life that always results in happy endings. It shows struggles and successes at the same time. All the characters are flawed and fight their own problems, even the minor characters. It is probably Stadlober's career-defining performance so far and this film turned him into a bit of a star that he hes not stayed until today. But Bravo etc. were all crazy for him back then. So yeah, I personally do not see great range or talent in him, so I am not surprised by the path his career took. And his character was also a major problem for me here in this film. There is so much emphasis on his disability really, but honestly nobody really hated him because of that or discriminated against him. It's tough to feel for 'him I think when (apart from one scene maybe) there is no discrimination at all. Same can be said about Schilling's character. I personally found him really unlikable and I find it difficult to understand that we should cheer for his friendship to the protagonist with all the mean stuff he does to everybody around him. All in all, I felt Schmid was pretty focused on writing human characters with flaws and he somewhat managed to hide the flaws this film has at the very same time and sometimes it feels like they are as justified as the imperfect characters.As for the story, this is the tale of a teenager who struggles with school, especially maths, but much more struggles with lack of acceptance. At least that's how he feels it is. This also includes his relationship with girls and you can wonder if he will get the girl of his dreams or if he will succeed and make it to the next grade. Just remember: realism is king in here. Anyway, another problem I had with the film is how the character interacts effortlessly and in such a self-confident manner on many occasions, even with the girl he has a crush on. I think it did not fit the struggling, shy, introvert character that the protagonist was depicted as early on. But that's just my personal perception. Same goes for the cookie wanking scene. I found it really gross to be honest. I am not sure how realistic it is if people really do stuff like that at the age of 16 or so. I know I didn't. But maybe it's just me and here again my dislike is entirely of a subjective nature. Overall, I think none of the performances or the script wowed me at all and I feel the negative outweighs the positive. I cannot agree with the awards attention the film received or with the IMDb rating here. Thumbs down from me and I don't recommend it.

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Carlos Martinez Escalona

I'm still a bit breathless after watching this film (pretty late, 10 years after)... but it carries you away with such power that in certain moments it becomes a bit difficult to keep your cool. I suppose everyone can feel related to one or other of the characters. After reading the original novel, you know what to expect, but the way this book was put into film makes it one of the best films on the subject I've seen yet.Benni is portrayed unflinchingly by Robert Stadlober. His role is not only believable, it is -I may be exaggerating, as always, perfect. It's a memorable film with one of the best soundtracks I remember from a non-musical-film. Maybe the strength given to some scenes by the perfectly chosen songs is one of the reasons you must watch the film. It will tear off some of your memories, or maybe it will call your own adolescent back to tell you some things you, and I, should never forget.

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astronic

This film is a portrait of the half-spastic teenage boy Benjamin who has to visit a boarding school because of his lousy marks in Math. He didn't make the best experiences in life before and got serious self-esteem issues. After a rough start at his new school, he starts making friends, falls in love with a girl and does some American Pieish teenage stuff.Beside some comedy elements, the film is told in a very serious way, focussing on Benjamin and his problems.If you already don't like this story outline, save your time and watch something else. If you do, please be aware of the following:1) Benjamin is a total loser. Whatever he does, he does it terribly wrong and then he goes for self-pity all the time. For me he wasn't that kind of "charming loser" who you can feel sympathy for and laugh with. Instead he and his behavior really annoyed me and with my own teenage years not so far behind I could barely stand watching.2) The film hardly tries to be realistic and the story seems to be but from my experience the characters just aren't (except for Janosch maybe). And yes, I know this film is based on an auto-biography written by a 17-year old - but having some experiences with German schools and German youth myself, I don't believe him.3) Showing the sexual awakening really is an important thing for a film with this subject. But I doubt that teenage boys do an "Ejaculate on the cookie"-contest where everyone has to hit a cookie with his sperm during mass-masturbation in the woods and the loser has to eat the sperm-wet cookie afterwards. Although it kinda amused me in a contemptible way, it's nor funny neither underlining the serious attempts of this film.4) There's a sub-plot about Benjamin's family and his father betraying his wife - still, I don't know why it's there and where to put it. It just bored me.Well, I personally hated this film for having the character of Benjamin, being without a message, concept, scheme, whatever and it's failing attempts to be dramatic and serious. However, I can image that some people may find it sensible and touching. If you liked "The Other Sister" you'll probably like this one, too. I hated both.17-year old boys shouldn't write an autobiography and if they do, it doesn't seem to be the best idea to make a film out of it.2 out of 10.

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