Stark Raving Mad (2002) Reviews

• He 'can' carry a movie!

  kersus2005-07-06

  Direct to video it seems in North America, while it hit theatres in Europe. I saw this in a convenience store rental area - DVD for $1.99. The name of the movie's star was written larger than the title of the movie. It reaked of B-movie caliber. The name? Sean William Scott! I liked Sean in Road Trip, Final Destination, Dude Where's My Car and Evolution. His fame though comes from the American Pie movies. You'll also see him in Bulletproof Monk and The Rundown. He hasn't shown a ton of range in his acting ability and the closest he came to carrying a movie was in Dude where he co-starred. He has always done his role effectively though so after a few visits to the convenience store we decided to give him a try. I didn't expect much, and was shocked by what I viewed. Not only is Sean the star of this movie but he carries this movie with a superb cast, script, and direction. From the beginning to the end this was a classic in the making. From the stop scenes where characters talk to the camera, to the white haired Lou Diamond Phillips, to the Chinese Food delivery guy and further. I laughed and laughed and kept feeling "What a great movie!" Here's the gist you could easily get from the back of the box. They're going to pull a robbery using a Rave as a cover. In the course of the movie, they have many hurdles to overcome. During this, funny stuff happens. Sean plays the straight guy and a relatively serious role - very different from his other roles. He pulls it off without a hitch. Lou Diamond Phillips (Young Guns fame) is another surprise. You won't believe how good he is until you see him in this role. Easily the best of Lou I've ever seen. The whole cast was fantastic but I do have to mention Timm Sharp who's character was hard to like, but well developed and acted with precision. One would be remiss not to mention Dave Foley who played a part that was totally unlike anything I've ever seen from him. Truly amazing he was. Like I said, there wasn't a bad actor in the movie. Drew Daywalt and David Schneider seemed to make great directors and great writers. As Dave Foley said (the gist of it anyway from the DVD extras) - the difference between one director and two directors is that with two director's you have to pretend to listen to TWO people. Dave's humour! This movie is well developed, it has good camera action, and leaves you feeling like you spent two hours wisely. It's a classic for me and will sit on my shelf proudly displayed while I mention it to everyone who visits! Pick up the movie!

• This movie should be called Stark Raving Fun.

  ripcord762004-08-13

  The other day me and a friend of mine were discussing Seann William Scott. We were watching evolution and both thought it was great but Sean William Scott is just playing the same character over and over and its gonna end soon if he doesnt do something else. (though I do hope they make an evolution sequel, but not likely) Then my friend was like "well he did have that striaght to video action movie or whatever it was" I was like " geeze straight to video already, he didnt have a chance." It got me very interested, however, since Stark Raving Mad was the only movie Seann Scott had been in I had not seen. I went and rented the film and me and my friend watched it the next day. What I was was surprised. Here is a film that deserves much better than the straight to video release it got. It has top notch direction, excellent pacing and sets and a truly fitting musical score. This film is a little light on plot but it makes up for it with its excellent characters, I found it truly a pleasure to watch. Seann William Scott really steps up to the plate with this film and brings something new to the table. I watched the film through with the commentary track the next day and I have to say if you like commentary tracks this one is almost more entertaining than the film itself. If Seann William Scott ever reads this (not that I expect him to) I would want him to know how his enthusiasm for this project and real want to do something different than typical American Pie characters really comes through in the film, I could really tell this was more than a paycheck for Seann. In the immortal words of Seann Scott's co-star Monet Mazur "This movie should be called Stark Raving Fun... 'cause thats what we've been having." lol

• Best direct to video movie

  INeedANewNickname2003-12-23

  This most be the best direct to video movie in a long time. I bought this movie in May when it was released on dvd in Norway. I just watched it again a couple days ago, and I will say that Star Raving Mad is good. Is not great, but it's better than most of crap the you see in your local theater. This is the best Seann W. Scott film since Road Trip and the first American Pie. All his other movies he just played a different version of Stifler. Mostly a more stupid one. But this he have finally shaked of Stifler. Scott was Ben McGewen in this movie. He was cool and smart and very good written. Didn't resemblance Stifler at all. In all his other movie, you are thinking about Stifler when you see Scott. But not this time. He finally did it. If you want to see Scott grow as an actor, don't rent American Wedding or Bulletproof Monk. Rent this. Or do like me and buy it. For the rest of the movie, you got a good plot. You have seen it before, but not in this way. Scott is joined by a great cast of characters. His side-kick, the uncool Rikki (played by the funny Timm Sharp from Undeclared), a superstitious safe cracker, Jeffrey (Patrick Breen), a demolition expert (John B. Crye), that work best high, and the only person the really know what she doing, and keeps the group together, the computer expert, Betty (Suzy Nakamura). You also got to FBI agents played by Dave Foley and Kavana Smith, a ex-girlfriend (Monet Mazur), Adam Arkin as a night club owner, and Lou Diamond Phillips as the bad guy Gregory. In a pretty stereo-typical role. But with a cool hair cut. SRM is funny and is really good written, but the end feel a little flat. You got a stand off with two FBI agents and bunch of bad guys, and you don't get a shoot out. That's disappointing. But over all a good movie. I gave it 7 because I think it could be a lot better, and it could have a cool stand off in the end. But still very good and funny.

• Fast-paced fun movie with a great soundtrack

  manxman-12006-02-01

  Stark Raving Mad is exactly that! One of those movies where you check your brains at the door and just go along for the ride - and what a fun, breakneck ride it is. Seann William Scott has made a reputation for goofy performances - but this isn't one of them. And much to the better. What happened to the distribution of this movie is anyone's guess, although it sounds like some dumb studio exec simply didn't see it. A convoluted story about a break-in into a bank vault that is masked by the deafening music of an ongoing disco rave. Diverse characters with multiple story lines constantly threaten to derail the progress of the break-in, much to the viewer's delight. Funny, funny, funny. This has got to be the best performance from Seann William Scott, with his occasional asides to the audience regarding his personal philosophy on life. The story is constantly on the move, with a great, pounding soundtrack, unpredictable laugh-out-loud twists and an edgy cutting style that pitches you forward all the time. Kudos to everyone involved in the making of this movie! Sit back and enjoy!

• An edgy, fast-paced movie

  lea-12004-04-02

  I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie. I couldn't figure out why it was released in theatres in other countries but not in North America, didn't make sense. And after watching it, I'm even more puzzled, I mean this is a really good movie, edgy and fast-paced. Drew Daywalt and Dave Schneider did a great job with this. Seann William Scott (Ben McGewen) made a complete departure from his Stifler character of the American Pie movies, and that is what being an actor is all about. Timm Sharp (Rikki Simms) was really good playing the guy on the edge of a complete and total breakdown. The thieving trio of Patrick Breen (Jeffrey Jay), John B. Crye (Jake Nealson) and Suzy Nakamura (Betty Shin) were believably on the verge of killing each other in the process of helping their friend Ben make this final score. Lou Diamond Phillips (Gregory) with his shocking white hair was at his intensely malicious best here. He played it completely straight and hard. I have recently seen Lone Hero which he literally finished filming just days before beginning work on his scenes in Stark Raving Mad and the transformation was a double shock from long black hair to short white. Anyway, Gregory is a mob boss intent on collecting a debt left behind by Ben's deceased brother, Kevin. Ben is equally intent on paying off this debt and being done with the likes of Gregory. He enlists the help of his best friend Rikki and the larcenous trinity of Betty, Jake and Jeffrey to pull off a daring bank vault robbery. The bank happens to share a wall with a nightclub providing the opportunity of the perfect cover for the job. Ben works it out with the club's owner, played by Adam Arkin, to hold a rave but the owner is having second thoughts about it and becomes a potential obstacle to Ben's success. Another obstacle comes in the guise of the DJ played by Jody Racicot. The DJ who was originally hired couldn't make it so this guy shows up with his records and an attitude. Obstacle number three is, of course, a girl, played by Monet Mazur as Vanessa, neither the actress nor the character added anything to the story. All is going according to plan, albeit slowly and not without an assortment of problems small and large when Ben notices the noise in the club is decreasing, this is a bad thing as the bank vault alarm will go off if the vibrations from the noise drop below a certain level. Ben goes out to check with his doorman Dirk, played by Canadian character actor, C. Ernst Harth who seems to be appearing in just about everything these days. Dirk informs his boss that there are a lot of kids trying to pass off fake ids to get in, conveniently there's one suspicious young lady right there who insists that the id is not fake, she just changed her hair colour and proceeds to lift her dress to prove her point. C. Ernst gives one of the best visual reactions I've ever seen. The snappy dialogue, driving backbeat, and a talented cast equal a very watchable and enjoyable movie and the commentary track on the DVD is hilarious. I give it a solid 9/10.