THE BEHREND BEACON
Girl, Interrupted puts
"crazy" into perspective
by Katie Galley
editorial page editor
Have you ever felt like you were
different? That you didn't know what
you wanted to do with your life? How
about not feeling like you know who
you really are? This is how 17 year
old Susanna Kaysen ends up in the
mental hospital, Claymore.
Played by actress Winona Rider, the
movie Girl, Interrupted tells the story
of Susanna, whose parents sign her
into a mental hospital when she de
cides that she doesn't want to go to
college with the rest of her friends.
Set in the year 1967 the movie takes
a look at the two year 'rest' that
Susanna has in the hospital and all of
the angst she suffers trying to discover
the root of her 'illness', which the
doctors label as Borderline Personal
ity Disorder.
The beginning of Susanna's stay in
In theaters, Next Friday is the
blunt of America's laughter
by Jermaine Hardy
statt writer
If the names Smokey, Debo, or Ice
Cube don't ring bells for you, then
please do yourself a favor and direct
your eyes toward the direction of an
other article. This review is for ex
plicit humors only. You have been
warned. For those of you who are
familiar with those names, here's an
update on them. Smokey is in rehab
for his smoking problem, Debo has
escaped from prison, and Craig, as in
Ice Cube, is still jobless. You have
witnessed the crew's wild scenario in
the or iginal . Friday movie as Smokey
and Craig blazed their way through
the obstacles of the day, nearly get
ting themselves killed in the course
of it. Well it's Friday once again and
the mayhem promises to continue.
In the sequel Next Friday, Craig
moves to the suburbs with his cousin
Dayday (Mike Epps) and uncle Elroy,
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Dear Jane,
I'm in my second semester
at college. My girlfriend of two
years is a senior in high school. I get
"home" a few weekends a month to
see her and my family. She does not
ome to visit me at college since she
I oesn't have transportation. I
suppose the long distance thing has
been ok, but it is weird that she does
not know any of my friends at school.
hen last week she decided that she
is coming here for school next fall.
My concern is that she is only
oming to this school for me, and that
makes me nervous. Should I talk to
er about this? How can I bring it up
without making her think I don't
want her here?
oo Much Pressure
the hospital starts with a violent and
frightful encounter with another pa
tient, Lisa. Played by the extraordinary
actress, Angelina Jolie, the character
of Lisa is one of an extremely aggres
sive, yet charming sociopath, who has
spent the past eight years in Claymore.
After the encounter the two girls
quickly become friends and fall into a
world of their own at the hospital,
separating themselves from the outside
world.
As Susanna is trying to recover from
her illness she is unknowingly being
drawn into Lisa's egocentric world and
is finding it harder and harder to ad
here to the rules that will help her get
out of the hospital faster. While she
was already labeled as "crazy", her at
tachment to Lisa and several other girls
in her ward disturbs the nurses and
doctors that are trying to help cure
Susanna. Together Lisa and Susanna
get into mischief by breaking out of
who has bought a luxurious home with
lottery winnings. Craig's father (John
Witherspoon) suggests that he live
there for a while to take a break from
the hectic ghetto life of South Central
L.A., where he got in some life threat
ening trouble when he and the neigh
borhood bully, Debo (Tommy Lister),
came to blows in the prequel. How
ever, Craig finds that the suburbs are
reluctant to give him any more peace
than the hood did. On his first day of
living in the suburbs things get chroni
cally crazy.
Craig finds out that his cousin's
home will be auctioned off if the long
past due bill isn't paid. However, the
bill isn't the only thing that's high.
Temperatures rise as Craig and crew
plot to steal the money from the drug
dealing neighbors in order to save the
house. In the midst of this steaming
situation the crew is on the run from
Dayday's alleged baby's mama who
plans to make Dayday's life a living
get acquai
'III
and
Dear TMP,
Your girlfriend's recent
decision is obviously making you
uncomfortable, so you deinitely need
to sit her down for a talk. She is putting
a lot a pressure on the relationship if
she really is choosing a college based
on you. Tell her! Tell her that you want
her to be as close as possible, but you
also want her to look at all of her
options because you want her to be
happy. No doubt, she will say
something like "you make me happy."
To field this, remind her that you have
made the long-distance thing work so
far and no matter where she is you will
work it out. On the other hand, you
said that she doesn't know any of your
friends. You wouldn't have mentioned
that if you were not thinking about how
FEATURES
their rooms to explore the hospital,
refuse to take their medication and
eventually break out of the hospital,
only to find that the real world is not
where they want to be anymore.
After they are both caught and
brought back to the hospital and ban
ished to separate wards, Susanna
finds that many of her problems were
because of her association with Lisa.
She works slowly through her prob
lems with the help of the no-nonsense
Nurse Valerie, played by Whoopi
Goldberg, who helps Susanna find
her lost self and get back to reality.
This movie was intense, light
hearted, touching and frightening all
at the same time and well worth the
two hours and five minutes I spent in
the theater. There were moments in
the film where I laughed out loud at
the antics of Susanna and her friends,
who included a bulimic girl, an
anorexic girl, and a self-inflicted burn
hell since he denies being the father
of her child. To top the day off, Debo
has broken out of jail and he's on his
way to get revenge on Craig.
If you were a fan of the original
Friday, then you should also appre
ciate its sequel. However, it's not sur
prising that the sequel, which doesn't
include the hilarious element of Chris
Tucker as Smokey, has trouble
matching the wits of its predecessor.
However, newcomer Mike Epps as
Dayday manages to provide hysteri
cal humor as Craig's counterpart.
Directed by popular video director
Steve Carr, the movie has a
cartoonish affect that adds to its light
ness. Screen written by Ice Cube, the
movie doesn't want to suck you in,
and although it contains some gro
tesque bodily function gags, it
doesn't intend on being hard to di
gest. It wants to give you a good
laugh, and I'm always ready for a
good laugh.
your friends might react to her. I'm
sure you know relationships require
a lot of time and effort. So does
college. Juggling school, friends and
a girlfriend (who will probably
expect a lot of your time) could be
hazardous to your health. Make sure
you weigh out all of your options.
Most importantly, talk to her! Don't
wait until she's here expecting
everything to be perfect to tell her
she's making you nervous.
Jane
Write letters to Jane at
leave letters in the Beacon mailbox
downstairs in Reed .
JANUARY 21, 2000
victim (whom they all lovingly called
Torch). Susanna'a plight frightened
me when we learned that she was ad
mitted in the first place for the rea
sons of "uncertainty about self-image,
long term goals, types of friends or
lovers to have and which values to
adopt", pretty much growing up in a
nutshell.
Granted, the film and actual expe
riences that this movie was based
upon were set way back in 1967, how
ever, Susanna's problems are our
problems too. These are problems that
transcend the ages and if people
thought her crazy for being confused
about life, you can image how many
of us would be institutionalized right
now. If it's true then what the movie
preaches to us that 'bein2 crazy' is
measured on how socially acceptable
we are, then for the most part, this
whole world is insane.
LEX
MANE I LET'S Go
SEE WE GUEST
SPENCER PROP.
ParoV NE Pen Ng
IN CLASS.
by
Bongo the three legged
monkey
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IT SOIMPS
PAiNFOLLY
OCRING!
Aries (March 21-April 19). Try a new
winter sport -- Co-ed naked snow angel
making
HTaurus (April 20-May 20). Thank God for
horoscope writing, three legged monkies.
Gemini (May 21-June 21). When a MAC
says, "It's not my fault,'' it is. Hit it with a
hammer twice. Make sure it's good and
dead.
Cancer (June 22-July 22). Pretend you're
in sorority, don't talk to anyone for a
week.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22). Don't forget to
have your cat spayed or neutered!
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Get some
exercise, carry a case instead of a 6 pack.
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Do the world a
favor, start a petition to have Turnbull
condemned
Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Pineapples
They're not just for breakfast anymore
(nudge, nudge, wink, wink).
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Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Get "lei"ed 00%1NNigie
and support your basketball team, go to a
game!
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). If you go to
class you might actually learn something,
try it sometime. Your parents are paying
good money.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb 18). Saying only
one stupid thing is like trying to eat only
one potato chip, a second one always
follows.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20). Deep thought
Have you ever wondered what hap
pened to that stray cat you saw outside of
Ohio Hall then noticed that the hamburger
that you just got from Bruno's is the best
that you ever had?
Winona Rider and Angelina Jolie star in Girl, Interrupted
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