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Rating:  - Nice Teen Flick
Basically that's what this movie his. Their not bad actors, and even though the story could have been a little more explored, it's a nice sunday afternoon movie.
Rating:  - A new teen classic
The story is your typical preppy girl cleans up outcast to get Jock interested in her, but falls in love, and I know your thinking it's cliche and been done a million times and you are right! But aren't all of these teen comedies mundane? Sure they are! Enjoy them for what they are. Britney Spears sung a great song off of this soundtrack "You Drive Me Crazy" is a hit track.
Rating: - Great acting
This movie is really well done. Each scene flows nicely into the next, the dialogs are perfect, and the caracters are adorable. Just watch it and enjoy.
Rating: - Not as bad as I expected
Isn't it funny how some films don't quite fit their stereotypes? I settled down to watch Drive Me Crazy because I was in the mood to watch a mindless teen movie, and given that this film stars Melissa Joan Hart of Sabrina The Teen Witch fame, I was expecting really more of the same. It doesn't help that the beginning of the film reinforces the stereotype (complete with cheesy pop background music, neon-lit opening titles and slow pan across a typical teenage girl's bedroom followed by Melissa answering the phone in her best "a la Sabrina" perky voice).
What I encountered was a film that is still very much rooted in the teen "prom" genre, but is slightly deeper and sophisticated (as well as more ponderous and slow-moving) than I expected. It's quite a biting and penetrating observation of the high school social hierarchy as well as the conflicting emotions of young love. Think of it as a more serious version of Clueless with a dash of Dangerous Liaisons thrown in.
Nicole Maris (Melissa Joan Hart) is a pretty and popular girl at the Timothy Zonin High School (definitely in the "in" crowd) who is organising a big formal dance celebrating the centenary anniversary of her school. She has the hots for school basketball star Brad (Gabriel Carpenter) and hopes he will be her date for the dance.
Neighbour and fellow classmate Chase Hammon (Adrian Grenier) is on the other side of the school social stratum. Sporting a "rebel without a cause" attitude and a grungy appearance, he hangs out with nerdy Ray (Kris Park) and "Designated Dave" (Mark Webber) - the latter so-nicknamed because he doesn't drink therefore he always chauffeurs the other kids when they are blind drunk and want to go back home after a party. At the beginning of the film, the three of them (masterminded by Chase) stage a prank involving putting coloured dye into the school sprinkler system which nearly gets them suspended.
Incidentally, Nicole and Chase used to be childhood friends but then grew apart into their different ways. Both have single parents (William Converse-Roberts as Mr. Hammond and Faye Grant as Mrs. Maris) as Chase's mum died of cancer and Nicole's father (Stephen Collins) is estranged. Their parents appear to be very "friendly" with each other, and later on in the film we find out why.
So, when Brad - on the verge of asking Nicole to the centenary dance - falls in love with a cheerleader instead (when he accidentally fell on her during a basketball game), and Chase's girlfriend Dulcie (Ali Larter) dumps him because she thinks he's too shallow (because she is into animal rights and he doesn't seem to be interested), Nicole and Chase strike an unholy deal - they will pretend to be in a relationship with each other in an attempt to make their desired partners jealous.
Nicole gives Chase a Pygmalion-like makeover and suddenly it looks like their crazy plan may just succeed after all. Or will they fall in love with each other instead? And what about Nicole's best friend - acid-tongued Alicia (Susan May Pratt) - will she throw a spanner into the works?
The ending may be somewhat predictable, and yet the film as a whole seems to be more than the sum of its parts. The characters are reasonably fleshed out and have complex overtones to their personalities, and the dialogue is reasonably clever in places. However, overall I found the film to be somewhat slow-moving and uninvolving. The problem is, a romantic comedy with artistic pretensions can aspire to become a piece of serious drama, but an ambitious teen movie ends up looking awkward because - let's face it - what is the serious equivalent?
Incidentally, I think Melissa should really stop playing teen roles. She may still have the pert little body and a perky voice, but she is not as fresh-faced as she used to be and it would be nice to see her play her age for a change in a more substantial role.
Rating: - Very shallow
Why did I buy this film? Cos it has a track by what used to be one of my fave bands for years on the soundtrack (Steps "One For Sorrow"), I was interested to see if Melissa Joan Hart can do any other character apart from Clarissa and Sabrina (I grew up with this girl, and she can't), and for the Britney video to "Drive Me Crazy". Otherwise, I have a penchant for these rom-coms set in high schools.
I grew up watching Melissa in kids TV, first on Clarissa and then on Sabrina. When you're young, you don't really notice the acting, but in this, you really do notice how bad she is. Like most TV actors trying to move into movies, they don't really try too hard to move away from the character they've been playing for years. She goes through the motions, and most of her laughter, and OTT-ness is fake.
Another thing is most of the time, these movies have drop-dead gorgeous stars. Adrian Grenier?! Who is he exactly? He's not good-looking - or he doesn't appeal to me - and he's just not right for that role.
Ali Larter appears in this, the girl with the ever-changing hair colour, and the film actually looked up by having her in it. She's a great actress, and with the wacky hair colouring (every shade of pink, red and purple you can think of) and styles. It's worthwhile getting this movie purely for her.
The extras aren't up to much, apart from the Britney video - I love that song. You've got the usual theatrical trailer, various TV spots, and two music videos.
There's nothing special about this teen rom-com. It's never properly explained why the two main characters gave up speaking to each "it's called junior high", or why they were too shallow to even bother to keep up the friendship. If you like this sort of thing, it's good, but the storyline is getting a bit old and tired now.
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