In its race to conquer Hollywood, Netflix has produced more movies, TV shows and limited series than it can handle. While some of those originals have been given a chance to shine and grow stronger, many have been lost or forgotten in the decade-long process of the platform’s constantly churning release machine. Even seemingly high-profile, acclaimed limited series like Incredible And Maid have failed to secure a permanent place in the pop cultural mainstream.
the same fate happened crazy, The ambitious, Emma Stone-led sci-fi miniseries premiered on Netflix five years ago to almost universal acclaim, but it has since been forgotten by most viewers. It’s a shame because crazy This is a rare thing. It’s a big-budget, star- and filmmaker-driven sci-fi series that’s messy, ambitious, uneven, visually stunning, and shocking – and it’s all of these things at once.
It swung for the fences and connected, and it’s worth looking back and remembering what it did crazy Such a compelling gem… especially since all 10 episodes are still available on Netflix, even if the platform doesn’t exactly advertise it.
Based on the Norwegian TV series, crazy Follows Annie Landsberg (Emma Stone) and Owen Milgrim (Jonah Hill), two absurdist characters suffering from mental health problems. He is the son of Dr. James K., a drug inventor. They meet as participants in a pharmaceutical trial overseen by MentalRay (Justin Theroux), which he promises can solve all of its users’ mental and emotional problems.
None of the characters realize that the drugs cause intense hallucinations. crazyAs a result, Annie and Owen are followed as they work their way through alternate realities where they are different people living different lives. These worlds allow crazy Subsequent episodes would adopt a different aesthetic and style, including a Coen Brothers-esque domestic crime comedy, a 1940s one-man romance, a gangster thriller, and an outrageous high fantasy adventure.
series, created by station eleven Showrunner Patrick Somerville and directed by true Detective Director Cary Joji Fukunaga dives into each story with casual abandon. Not all of them work as well as others, but all of them are bold enough to grab your attention. crazy Feels like a spiritual successor to FX military unit, which transports its audience into a surreal, unique world filled with terrifying monsters, absurd creations, and wells of emotion. It is this latter aspect that makes crazy Work; As entertaining as it is to watch the series bounce between a dozen different genres, it wouldn’t matter much if the show were emotionally hollow.
Beneath its many oddities and bizarre twists, there is a genuine interest in exploring and confronting the issues Annie and Owen face. That element is best displayed crazyThe fifth episode, in which Annie is awakened from a surreal dream by Dr. Mantleray and interviewed to determine whether sufficient progress has been made in breaching her “defense mechanisms”. Interview, which feels like a quasi-therapy session (and quasi-homage to the Processing scene) Owner), is a marvel of emotionally frank, confrontational storytelling.
Emma Stone gives the best performance of her career so far crazy,
Netflix
It is not immediately obvious, but crazy is a natural precursor to Somerville’s adaptation station eleven, the best dystopian TV show or movie in years. Like crazyThe HBO Max series is a high-concept sci-fi thriller filled with messy characters who realize the importance of connection in the wake of unimaginable trauma and loss. crazy It’s a lot messier, but its themes are no less powerful.
Five years later, it remains the creatively bold and experimental TV series that Netflix has largely abandoned in favor of kludge. Combine Somerville’s dense, genre-bending story with Fukunaga’s traditionally excellent direction and the best performance ever given by Emma Stone, and what you’ve got is a show that deserves to be remembered far more fondly. Whether you’ve never seen it before or haven’t revisited it since 2018, now’s as good a time as any to give it a go crazy The attention it deserves.
crazy Streaming on Netflix.