Rarely will you see a film as bleak as this one. If you want to get depressed about alcoholics Leaving Las Vegas with Nic Cage is a far better choice. Crazy Eyes is yet another tale of self destruction via alcohol—and not a particularly interesting one. The lead character Zach (Lukas Haas) is a divorced father of a 5-year-old who spends every minute of every day getting drunk and drunker.
Zach lives in Los Angeles and has an endless flow of cash, which is never quite explained. One can assume he was born to rich parents. It is a boring life so alas, it’s a boring movie. Zach gets drunk, Zach sleeps with women, he has an ex-wife who justifiably can’t stand him and a son who yearns for his love and attention. “Crazy Eyes” is the nickname he gives to Rebecca (Madeline Zima), a woman who drinks as much as he does and suffers the same kind of hangovers. They stumble around going nowhere together.
Zach has a bartending best friend, Dan Drake, played with enthusiasm by Jake Busey. In fact, every one of the actors are extremely talented but the script is like a flat-lined monitor. How many scenes can an audience endure with a protagonist who’s a self-obsessed drunk? A movie is supposed to have a message. A character needs to go on a journey. This guy is living a groundhog’s day—drink, have sex, awake hungover, rinse, repeat.
Zach’s father (Ray Wise) becomes ill, so our anti-hero manages to wobble over to the hospital and slur. Meanwhile, his mother (Valerie Mahaffey) is losing touch with reality and Zach is of no help. He’s a rotten dad too. His son packs an overnight bag and eagerly waits for Zach to come collect him for a visit but surprise, surprise, the alcoholic can’t show up.
The saddest part of this film, written by Adam Sherman, Dave Reeves and Rachel Hardisty is that it’s 98% true. “The lead [Zach] is based on my life,” Sherman said. “The girl [Rebecca] the lead [Zach] is obsessed with and dating throughout the film is one of my writing partners, and his best friend [Dan] is my other writing partner. So, basically I wrote an autobiographical film in collaboration with the other characters in the film.”
Crazy Eyes does have a great soundtrack but here are 5 better movies to see about alcoholism: Days of Wine and Roses, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, The Lost Weekend,Barfly and Sideways.
‘Crazy Eyes’ opens in NYC July 6, 2012. 96 minutes. Not Rated.
Written for the Examiner
