Mad Love
Matt (Chris O'Donnell) is no nerd, but he is a good student with a love of astronomy. He's also a responsible kid, spending much of his high school senior year helping his divorced father care for his two younger siblings (one of whom is played by Salt Lake actor T.J. Lowther).Casey (Drew Barrymore) is a troubled girl who has just moved to Washington state from Chicago. She lives in the house across the lake and Matt first spots her one night while he's looking through his telescope and she just happens to be skinny-jet skiing.
Despite their differences, it's love at first sight in the world of "Mad Love."
Matt next sees Casey as she is kicking her yellow Volkswagen bug. He's impressed when she lifts the hood and fixes the car herself, with no thought of calling for help.
So he awkwardly asks her out and they begin a tentative relationship. But her behavior is unpredictable, and Matt becomes concerned when she interrupts his SAT's by setting off the school fire alarm and later attempts suicide.
And when he visits her in the psychiatric ward and gets a glimpse of her less-than-understanding father and ineffectual mother, Matt spontaneously decides to take matters into his own hands — and they hit the road together.
Worse, however, is the screenplay by first-timer Paula Milne, which is so superficial that in the end the audience may feel that the subjects of teen sex, teen suicide and clinical depression have been trivialized. (On the other hand, kids in the audience — to whom the loads-'o-fun previews seem geared — may simply feel cheated that it's not a feel-good movie after all.)
The film's near-saving grace is its two stars, who deliver first-rate performances. O'Donnell is a subtle actor, and while it may appear to be a step backward that he is playing a teenager again, it's easy to see why he chose the role. Matt is a solid, rooted kid, but he has some deep-seeded resentments about his mother abandoning the family and his own duties as assistant father. O'Donnell does wonders with very little.
And Barrymore, despite the bubble-headed, Madonna-style antics that are rapidly branding her off-screen persona as intolerable, seems to become a better actress with each role she plays. Here, she allows us to see right away that there is something serious going on under Casey's carefree exterior. And by the end, she has convinced us that this young woman is crying out for help.
Too bad the movie never reaches the heights that are clearly within reach of these two young performers.
"Mad Love" is rated PG-13 (though it is in R-rated territory) for violence, sex, profanity, vulgarity and veiled nudity.