Mad Love (1995)

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Shirtless in Seattle, handsome blue-eyed Chris O'Donnell (as Matt Leland) has his telescope trained on jiggling blonde Drew Barrymore (as Casey Roberts). Later, the sexy high school seniors go to a concert by themselves, which is strange, and do some head-banging. They skip school and have fun driving her yellow Volkswagen around town. These two are attractive, affluent and in love. However, something seems wrong. To be with Mr. O'Donnell during a test, Ms. Barrymore pulls the school fire alarm. "What are you, nuts?" asks O'Donnell. "Yeah," she replies. This turns out to be true...Director Antonia Bird gets all her spark plugs in line for a fine sequence involving traveling salesman Liev Schreiber...Barrymore seems emotionally disturbed, with a confidential diagnosis. After a suicide attempt, she is committed. O'Donnell helps her bust out of the mental hospital and they go on a joyride to Mexico. Barrymore's road "games" are so obviously over the top, it's a stretch to believe O'Donnell doesn't catch on faster. Possibly, it would have worked better if writer Paula Milne gave him some substance abuse; the character seems too level-headed. Barrymore and O'Donnell look great together, but are unconvincing as an amateur "Bonnie and Clyde". Besides, it looks like car theft is legal in the southwest.***** Mad Love (5/26/95) Antonia Bird ~ Chris O'Donnell, Drew Barrymore, Kevin Dunn, Liev Schreiber

I love Drew Barrymore and I've never seen her look more desirable than in this movie. She has short blonde hair and a beautiful smile.Drew is a chick with some kind of mental problem. She soon meets Chris O'Donnell, who decides it would be a good idea to shirk all responsibility to his family in favor of kidnapping Drew and hitting the road as a fugitive. Chris is so dumb, he doesn't leave Seattle for Canada, which is only a few miles north. No, Chris is smarter than that. He heads for Mexico! What a dweeb.The unlikely duo stumbles into a restaurant in Salinas (California) where Drew misses out on the shrimp she ordered so she can go to the toilet, take off the ugly dress Chris bought for her, and crawl around on the floor while checking for a secret door behind the commode. These adventures continue for awhile until Drew comes to her senses and dumps O'Dumbbell.OK for teenyboppers. Others may be bored out of their freaking minds.

Mad Love success is formally down to the leads Drew Barrymore and Chris O' Donnell. Their chemistry together, their development, twists and turns make you genuinely care about the characters.If that's the only reason you see the film then go right ahead.The subject of Bi-Polar is sensitively approached under the direction of Antonia Bird and I can honestly say that this is one of my favourite coming - of age dramas and made me fall in love with both Barrymore and O'Donnell and follow along on their incredible journey together.Some may guffaw at the cinematography, it is a fairly old film but the most important thing is the story and the acting which remain strong throughout.

Chris O'Donnell heats up the screen and Drew Barrymore is at her sensual best in this motion picture about two teens who take an adventure together against parental wishes. I admit the first time I saw this movie last summer I didn't like it at all. But when I gave it a second try, I actually found it was really good. Because the movie isn't packed with laughs or memorable quotes, I had missed a lot of what made the movie such a good one in it's subtle, yet charming way (the first time I saw it). When I watched it a second time, however, I payed a lot more attention to the movie itself and saw that it did have delight, great acting talent and other positive notes. As well as this, the directing was fine and there were some really good shots through the characters' road trip in the movie. This is one interesting picture. A must-see! Rating: Three out of Five stars.