Drive Me Crazy (1999)

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.

I must admit right off the bat that I'm a sucker for these type of movies with the predictable, happy ending. However, I must also say that I truly believe this was a good movie because it both hit the mark with what high school can be like yet it was different from many of the recent high school flicks that have been made. It is different because neither character is chasing the other one and they are former friends rather than 2 people who know nothing of each other. Also, even though Melissa Joan Hart's character is the popular, perky one, Adrian Greiner's character is not your typical "loser" character nor would I classify him as a loser. He is not an academic nerd either, but a rebellious person who gets in some trouble. That being said, I do have some beefs with the movie. First, the "falling for each other" between Hart and Greiner doesn't develop as it should. It also bothered me that neither one says how/what they feel even at the end. The audience knows they are attracted to each other but they never say anything. Also, this movie really should have been longer so that the story could have developed more, again especially the relationship between Hart and Greiner. Still, a good movie overall and one worth seeing if you like romantic-comedies or this type of genre.

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I'm honestly not one to be a big fan of teenage movies, USUALLY. But...when I saw this movie I notcied that the world of teenage cinematic productions really DID have potential, can you imagine! Adrian Grenier is the cuuuutest, and Meslissa Joan Hart acually acts in this movie, hard to believe, but yes, she does! It has an interesting plot and is one I could watch over and over again. It is funny, smart, and witty. Never leaving you yawning this movie receives a 5 in my book! I would reccomend it to anyone!

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Britney sings the title track to this movie that Melissa Joan Hart satrs in.. relaly good teen flick

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Drive me Crazy on the surface is portrayed as a shallow,run-of-the-mill, simplistic movie.I also thought it would be this. But instead it is an eyopening web of complex emotions. Some of the beginning parts are questionable though (Chase goes from grunge-boy, to popular boyfriend in about 2 seconds with little instant remorse, or thought), but as the movie unfolds, it becomes something more. This is largely in part of the simple, yet true to the heart performances of the two leads, Adrian Grenier, who delicately portrays a teenager somewhere between a hurt child, and a noncomformist anti-hero, and Melissa Joan Hart believeably portraying a perky popular girl who has a slow change of heart about who she is and where she stands. As supporting characters ''Designated Dave'' is strongly played, showing acore of insecurity and hurt. BUt overall what makes the film worth seeing is the general feel of it. The simple, yet realistically portrayed wounds of hurt, insecurity, and inferiority that make the ''uncool'' kids try to be what they aren't. High school is finally realistically portrayed as a Nazi-like environment. As brutal as it seems, it really is. People get hurt, and suffer and are dehumanized in what is no less than a Nazi following of kids degrading each other. Hopefully other filmmakers will take the hint and start creating movies that are more true to life, instead of the upper-cut, simplistic movies they currently process.

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