Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Lawbolisted Powerful

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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.

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.

andre-71 It seems like Europe has finally developed its own style of teenage movies, which is far more appealing to me than the American one. There are indeed a few similarities to "Fucking Åmål", and at first I thought "Crazy" to be just some kind of a German copy of it. But then I found, it is mainly the realism and the straightness that is similar to FA; and I consider this as a new European style. Most of the feelings and emotions of this film have also appeared in my youth, and they most probably will in all upcoming generations, too. So, the film is very catching for everybody, especially males, who have been a teenager. Some of the people in the audience even shed a tear at certain moments. The only thing I thought to be a little unrealistic and even annoying is the way the sixteen year old boys seemed to think about god. I would think that most boys of that age, unless being raised in a strict religious environment, talk about god in a less reflected way. But maybe this is a typical Bavarian phenomena, or the producers wanted to push chances of receiving an US-American academy award.

ChWasser This coming-of-age movie is an adaptation of the autobiographical bestseller by Benjamin Lebert which caused a sensation on the German bookmarket in 1999 because the author was only 17 years old when he wrote it.It tells the story of a "half-side spastic" boy who keeps changing schools in order to pass the math exams at last. His latest school is a boarding-school in Southern Bavaria (filmed at the same one that the real Benjamin attended), where he finds friends for the first time. Each of these misfits has problems of his own but they all share the confusion of puberty. This period of life is shown so authentically that everyone in the audience will be able to identify with the characters (or remember his/her own youth).The actors are excellent (especially Tom Schilling and Julia Hummer) and very well guided by Hans-Christian Schmid, who seems to have a knack of discovering young talents. The music is great as well and excellently enhances the often melancholy mood of the film. If you liked "Fucking Amal" you'll love "Crazy". I hope it will be a success.