Melissa Joan Hart Movie:

Editorial Review:
This conflicted teen comedy can't decide what it wants to be. Is Drive Me Crazy a mainstream piffle about a popular girl who turns her grungy next-door neighbor into a dream date? Or is it a sneaky critique of high school conformity? Melissa Joan Hart (TV's Sabrina, the Teenage Witch) is angling to get asked to an upcoming dance by a basketball star, but when her plans go awry, she turns to a childhood friend (Adrian Grenier from The Adventures of Sebastian Cole) in the hopes of avoiding total humiliation. Grenier wants to win back his recently lost girlfriend, so he agrees to Hart's total makeover plan to induce jealousy. Naturally, the scam turns into something sparky. Teen flicks always make things too glossy and upscale, but Drive Me Crazy somehow fumbles its design and ends up looking false and square. The movie initially presents Grenier's transformation as unqualified good, with no sense that anything he was doing before--political protests, alternative music, rebellious pranks--had any value. But as the plot unfolds, a few barbed twists undercut the good cheer, sneakily commenting on school spirit and popularity. These themes wrestle uncomfortably with the movie's production values, resulting in a curiously provocative jumble. This confusion is probably why the movie was only a modest success in theaters, but it's actually what makes Drive Me Crazy worth looking at now. --Bret Fetzer

Drive Me Crazy Reviews:
This Rob Thomas Project Is No Veronica Mars, But It's Worth a Watch
2009-01-04 - I bought this movie for one reason. Rob Thomas, who created the brilliant Veronica Mars, wrote this screenplay. It was early in his career and I knew, both from knowing a bit about the industry and from his comments about the production of the film, that the movie wouldn't be pure Rob Thomas the way his television work is. As evidenced by Joss Whedon's experience in films, directors often execute the scripts in a way that is contrary to the screenwriter's vision. That seems pretty evident here, because the film is horribly cast, leading to most of Rob Thomas's trademark witty dialogue to be flubbed. The two leads are mostly competent, but Adrian Grenier wouldn't come into his own as an actor until ENTOURAGE, and I didn't really buy him as the anti-conformist rebel his character started out as. As the movie progressed, it became apparent that Melissa Joan Hart and Grenier did have a reasonable degree of chemistry, and they both played off that, which made the movie more entertaining.

Despite this looking, smelling, and tasting like a cookie cutter 90s teen movie, there are moments of sophistication in the dialogue that shine through. Though it's hard to remember that Rob Thomas wrote this, those moments remind you that the guy really is a genius who packs as much meaning into his dialogue as possible (again, like the aforementioned Joss Whedon). Even those moments, however, have a hard time elevating this film as a whole above its genre. Overall, its place as a run of the mill 90s teen flick is pretty much set in stone. It's not the best of the genre--that goes to the fantastic 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU--but it is better than most of its peers. If you're looking for the trademark Rob Thomas flavor we've missed since the cancellation of Veronica Mars, this film won't really quench your thirst, but if you can stomach some cheesiness, the movie does entertain on a very surface level.

5/10

Right next Door
2007-10-08 - In short this movie is about two teens who decide to attend prom together after their dates flake on them, eventually discovering they have true feelings for each other. The long sumary is Nicole and Chase live next door to each other, but are worlds apart. Nicole is into fashions and other normal teenage happening a true in crowd sort while Chase is into public protest and ways of making fun of the in crowd, but by no means is Chase a geek. Nicole wants a dream date with the star basketball player; but got dissed when he choose a rival school chearleader instead. Chase's girlfriend is smart and beautiful; but dumpes him because he refused to attend an animal rights rally with her. Now that Nicole and Chase have something in common, they reluctantly join forces to navigate the land mines of high school love. Their scheme: date each other to attract the interest and jealousy of their romantic prey. But in true teen movie format, Nicole and Chase find that the one the always wanted was closer than they ever realized. If you like pop tart teen movies like I do, you are sure to enjoy this thoughtless comedy which does not require too many braincells to be involved. Drive me craze is fit for easy viewing.


Easy to watch movie.
2007-09-11 - Adrian Grenier totally makes this movie what it is. The plot is very predictable, but the lightness of this movie, makes it easy to watch many times over.

Cool Movie
2007-07-17 - It is an exelente movie, which tells us a history that repeats itself in many of our lives, which there are persons through that it lives of the opinion of the others and because of it they do aside the things that really cost a sorrow. And because of it often we end up by doing things that provoke us very much I damage us themselves.

corny but i loved it
2007-02-23 - i love this movie but i think it's good if you are a fan of one or more of the actors because i only watch it for adrian grenier.