There’s very little redemption in Crazy Eyes, a film that opens with the type of disclosure that appears buried in the end credits next to the copyright information – that the film is a work of fiction. True, but this is the story of many men, women and families torn apart by addiction. Zach (Lukas Haas) is a wealthy Los Angelino. He hates the city – proclaiming its filled with carbon copies or carbon copies as he pre-games at his wood top mansion before heading out for the evening. Lonely, divorced and drunk he finally reaches Rebecca, “Crazy Eyes” (Madeline Zima) whom he takes to a local dive bar, gets drunk and is upset when she won’t sleep with him.
Adam Sherman’s film shows the dark side of partying, the doing coke until your knees bleeds, waking up next to someone whom you don’t know or care about, and the regret. Deep in this disease of the eternal party they are unable to stop, in fact at a certain point drinking to maintain, even as Zach’s best friend, bartender and coke dealer, Dan Drake (Jake Busey) tells him he’s had enough.
Zach has an ex-wife, a son, a mother and ill father – little is known about how he made his millions (perhaps in film, or tech, as his only ambition now is to make it to the bar while he can’t even manage to get to an gallery opening he and Rebecca plan on going to). The downfall is similar to that of Shame, equally as brave, if less subtle – Crazy Eyes employs dizzying cinematography (by Sharone Meir) and editing (by Sam Bauer).
The film is well-crafted, dark and bleak. There is no redemption to seek, even as Zach does not get what he wants. His infatuation with “crazy eyes” fails, herself too drunk to take over the Manic Pixie Dream Girl character that have come into many a depressed male movie characters lives. The film is startlingly real and authentic if not lacking in its restraint – filmmaker Adam Sherman achieves a disturbing reality, as getting loaded becomes a full time occupation.
This is a bleak and useful film about the consequences of hard partying, an addiction that has been going on for months and months. Some opt-out of this life style, others do not and are on a path of self-destruction, which is realistically portrayed here. Crazy Eyes has excellent performances, but where it falters is in its lack of subtly – still this is a valuable and explicit film. You should not believe the film’s poster, as this is not “just another story about love.”