In Vino Mentiras


You know the best way to appreciate the 2001 flick Crazy/Beautiful?

Don't know any alcoholics.

For that matter, you'd probably be better able to appreciate it if you don't know anyone who is related to an alcoholic.

For some reason, real-life experiences tend to take all the fun out of this movie. After all, once you've spent hours listening to a female friend talk about how her mother was always passed out when said friend was growing up, this movie's constant pleas for sympathy on behalf of the alcoholic female lead (played by Kirsten Dunst) just don't seem that entertaining.

It's not that Ms. Dunst isn't cute or that her boyfriend (played by Jay Hernandez) isn't sympathetic.

But it's hard to praise a movie, no matter how well-made, whose conclusion contradicts the lessons of real life. I don't expect every movie to be super-realistic and I realize that escapism is often the chief appeal of most movies. But some forms of escapism are more acceptable than others and when said escapism implies that one can get an alcoholic to reform by simply loving them enough, it's hard not to find said escapism to be an obscenity.

After all, the world is full of people who would like to see their alcoholic kin reformed and to imply that these people rarely get their wishes because they lack affection for the kin in question is just shameless. I like to think there's a special place in Hell reserved for the type of people who would promote such a belief. The screenwriter and director of this movie should pray they don't end up there.