Stars: Melanie Griffith, David Morse, Lucas Black, Cathy Moriarty, Meat Loaf

Director: Antonio Banderas

Summary: Lucille, with only her hatbox and its mysterious contents, travels across America intent on finding fame and fortune in Hollywood. Her twelve-year-old nephew, Peejoe, left behind in Alabama, possesses one explosive secret he has difficulty keeping...

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It's clear why Melanie Griffith saw Mark Childress's bestselling book Crazy in Alabama, as the perfect vehicle for herself. The role of Lucille, a beautiful, battered wife in rural Alabama who dreams of glamorous movie stardom, is tailor-made for her. Griffith's husband, Antonio Banderas, has done quite a respectable job guiding her in this, his directorial debut; her performance--compelling, funny, and warm--is her best since Something Wild. (She also looks simply smashing.) Otherwise, the film is a curious amalgam of genres: an antic, surreal Southern Gothic comedy combined with a deadly serious civil-rights parable. As the movie opens, in the summer of 1965, Lucille (Griffith) has just murdered her abusive husband and is blowing town for Hollywood with his head in a Tupperware container. Scenes of her wacky cross-country road trip are interspersed with incidents back in Alabama involving clashes between protesting blacks and murderously intolerant whites. One can't imagine how these two seemingly disparate narrative lines will come together, but they do, in a surprisingly effective manner. The moral of both stories turns out to be: "You can bury freedom, but you can't kill it". Stand-out performances by Robert Wagner, as Lucille's Hollywood agent; Rod Steiger, as a quirky Southern judge; Lucas Black (Sling Blade) as Lucille's highly principled young nephew; and, believe it or not, Meat Loaf, as a brutal, bigoted Southern sheriff give the film an additional boost. --Laura Mirsky

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Commentaries by director Antonio Banderas and protagonist Melanie Griffiths, Deleted scenes, Filmographies, Outtakes, Photo gallery
Year:	1999
Release Date:	August 17, 2009
Runtime:	112 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C D R 28018
Keywords:	Comedy, General, Crazy, Wide, Screen, Alabama
Genre:	Comedy