# Drive Me Crazy (1999)

### reviewed by
John Sylva

Drive Me Crazy (1999) by John Sylva Rating: C+

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1999 has definitely set a new record. For the first quarter of the year, a teen film was released almost every week, the majority of them ending in a prom sequence. During the summer, only one or two were released, and it appeared that Hollywood had moved on. Well, in the tradition of Arnold Schwarzenegger's annoying yet classic line, "I'll be back," the teen genre is back for the fall, but hopefully not for long. Director John Schultz brings us Drive Me Crazy, an ordinary teen film, with the ordinary premise, and the ordinary soundtrack, which includes tracks by teen favorites, the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears.

Drive Me Crazy is yet another film that teens will flock to, because they know in movies such as this one, the character's worlds are perfect- they have thousands of dollars for clothes, their dances are fancier than the Academy Awards, and they are completely happy and satisfied with their life- they will be able to escape their non-perfect lives, and become the perfect characters in the film for an hour and a half. Films like Drive Me Crazy are for teens only, as their portrayal of high school and teen life is just a metaphor, but those who attend these films want to so they can live that metaphor.

The premise of Drive Me Crazy (which is derived from the novel How I Created My Perfect Prom Date by Todd Strasser) sounds like the opposite of last winter's fun teen comedy, She's All That. In She's All That, a guy gives a girl a make-over as a bet to make the dorkiest girl in the school into a prom queen, and in Drive Me Crazy, the girl is making over the guy. You could call this one, He's All That, eh? Melissa Joan Hart stars as Nicole Maris, popular, peppy student at Timothy Zonin High School, who is eagerly awaiting the Centennial Dance, a dance celebrating the 100th anniversary of the school. In her perfect plan, basketball star Brad (Gabriel Carpenter) is going to ask her to the event of a lifetime, and they will have the night of their lives- but who does he ask? A cheerleader who he accidentally falls on while playing in a basketball game.

At the same time, class clown Chase Hammond (Adrian Grenier) has been dumped by his goth girlfriend Dulcie (Ali Larter). One night after returning from a party, he gets a call from his next door neighbor, who happens to be the now dateless Nicole, who proposes that they go to the Centennial together, and convince everyone that they're an item, but she has to "clean him up" first. Chase agrees, and he gets a new wardrobe from Nicole, changes his way of life, and now hangs with the "in" crowd, along with Nicole. Will their agreement turn into something more? It's a feel good teen movie, what do you honestly think?

Melissa Joan Hart and Adrien Grenier give surprisingly strong performances as their desperate characters who start falling for each other in this predictable, cliche, yet entertaining film. Hart, who will hopefully break into mainstream film after her role here, has had a more than respectable career- she starred in the cult Nickelodeon show "Clarissa Explains It All" from 1991-1994, is currently starring in the popular show, "Sabrina: The Teenage Witch," and had a minor, yet hilarious role in the underrated 1998 teen party film, Can't Hardly Wait. Drive Me Crazy is Hart's first leading actress credit, and she handles herself quite nicely, for a teeny-bopper movie. Hart effectively expresses every day teen emotions with the same sort of Scream-ish, Dawson's Creek-ish edge that makes films such as this one so entertaining. After seeing Drive Me Crazy, the question arises- Can Hart act outside of the teen genre? So far, my answer would be no, as at the age of 23, she hasn't shown any extreme talent. If Hart wants any sort of career past the age of 25, she needs to get off her current television show. Now.

Drive Me Crazy packs on the usual situations, jokes, and characters that the majority of today's teen films do. It follows the same formula the majority of the teen films do- Boy meets girl, they fall in love, they get in a fight, and then comes the always predictable conclusion. Rob Thomas' fun, yet flawed script, suffers only two major flaws that make the film less entertaining than most teen films- an overly exaggerated character that goes around stealing her friend's boyfriends, and the parents of the our two main teens are constantly questioning if their children are on drugs, and don't pay attention to them excluding their rude accusations. Although flawed, the script has positive morals galore, and makes for an enchanting, inspiring film for teens.

The Bottom Line: In the tradition of 80's films like the classic, Sixteen Candles, Drive Me Crazy is a hip, yet mediocre film, and for teens ONLY.

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