Crazy in Alabama

You get two movies for the price of one with Crazy in Alabama, the new film directed by Antonio Banderas based on a 1993 novel by Mark Childress. The problem is neither movie alone is worth the price of admission.

Set in 1965, Lucille (Melanie Griffith), mother of seven, leaves a small Alabama town in a red sedan on her way to find stardom in Hollywood. Going along for the ride in a Tupperware container is the decapitated head of her husband Chester. On the way, she robs a bar in New Orleans, steals a car, gets arrested in Arizona, and escapes, all the while talking to Chester. Lucille is obviously missing a few bricks in the wall.

Back home, a parallel story unfolds as seen through the eyes of an orphan named Peejoe (Lucas Black), Lucille’s 13 year-old nephew. Peejoe has an encounter with Sheriff Doggett (Meat Loaf Aday), who’s been in hot pursuit of Lucille for the murder of Chester.

Black teenager Taylor Jackson (Louis Miller) and several of his friends attempt to take a swim in a whites-only public swimming pool. Taylor dies when he is yanked down from a chain link fence by Sheriff Doggett and strikes his head on the pavement.

Peejoe is a witness to the incident. The young man defiantly tells the lawman that he’ll spill the beans about his involvement in Taylor’s death if the sheriff doesn’t end his pursuit of Aunt Lucille. Meanwhile, Lucille is finally caught and returned to Alabama for trial. No surprise, but everything culminates in a bizarre courtroom scene with all sorts of grandstanding.

The dual stories of Lucille’s journey and the civil rights story make the movie wildly uneven. What may have worked in the novel does not work on the big screen.