Crazy Eyes (FILM REVIEW)
Crazy Eyes
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Hedonistic Playboy Tries Platonic Relationship in Offbeat Romantic Romp
At first blush, this
picture superficially reads like the typical opening of a Dragnet episode.
After all, it is set in L.A.
and starts with a voiceover informing the audience that what you are about to
see is true. However, that’s where the similarities between the classic TV
series and Crazy Eyes begin and end, since the latter is an offbeat romantic
romp rather than a sobering crime story narrated by a glum gumshoe.
Here, the
protagonist, Zach (Lukas Haas), is a wealthy playboy
who boasts about having 4½ women on speed dial should he find himself in the
mood for a booty call at the end of any evening. That self-indulgent lifestyle
doesn’t sit well with his ex-wife (Moran Atias), since it results in his
forgetting when he’s supposed to take custody of their son (Blake Garrett)
sorely in need of quality time with his emotionally-unavailable dad.
Zach’s
also routinely nagged by a persistent black girlfriend (Regine Nehy) who keeps calling
from the East Coast. She’s so desperate for a visit or at least a little phone
sex that she seductively whispers “I love you” into the receiver, ignoring his
begging to leave him alone.
Besides
being surrounded by frustrated females, Zach has a substance problem, too. That’s
not much of a surprise, given that his best friend, Dan (Jake Busey), is a bartender
and his primary enabler. After hours, they’re fond of doing lines of coke in
his hot tub with loose ladies they picked up at the club.
The plot
thickens the day Zach finally meets his match. That would be Rebecca (Madeline
Zima), an attractive, if uncoordinated lush he decides to refer to as Crazy
Eyes. She’s able to resist his considerable seductive powers, ostensibly holding
out because he’s promised to take her to an art gallery exhibiting the work of
Hieronymus Bosch.
Rather
than find someone else to sleep with, Zach inexplicably becomes intrigued and
what ensues is an ill-advised dating ritual marked by overindulgence, passing
out inebriated together, totaling a car, a DUI and intermittent barfing. Will
Rebecca get to see Bosch? Will Zach ever get lucky? Will they ever clean up
their acts?
Sadly,
none of the above is necessarily important to a couple of decadent drunks already
in Drunk Heaven.
Good (2 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 95 minutes
Distributor: Strand Releasing
To see a trailer for Crazy
Eyes, visit:
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