Crazy Beautiful You is a 2015 Philippine young adult Romantic Comedy-Drama film starring Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla. It was released in cinemas across the Philippines on February 25, 2015. Another box-office triumph for the Bernardo-Padilla onscreen pairing, it grossed ₱320 million by the end of the first quarter of 2015. Its commercial success led to screenings in certain foreign territories, such as the United States and Canada; it is the second Philippine film in history to have breached the $2 million mark in terms of international box-office sales.
Jackie (Bernardo) is a Troubled, but Cute nineteen-year-old, much to the dismay of her estranged parents. Her only interest lies within photography, and she hopes that she can one day move to New York to study and escape her complicated life. One night, Jackie is thrown in jail after crashing her car while drag racing with some other teenagers. Finally fed up of Jackie's reckless antics, her father sends her off to spend time with her mother (Lorna Tolentino) on a medical mission camp in Tarlac to help disadvantaged Aeta (an Indigenous tribe) people.
She meets the lively Kiko (Padilla), who helps her retrieve her mobile phone from a thief. A few days later, Kiko takes Jackie to the medical mission in a remote mountain community where she has to learn how to adjust to the living conditions.
The film is globally available to stream on Netflix, with English subtitles.
Crazy Beautiful You provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Kiko's mother leaves her younger children in the care of Kiko, who is still a teenager, so she can indulge in dalliances. His father also excessively favors Marcus, his brother, over him; expecting Kiko to give and give everything to Marcus.
- Anti-Villain: Marcus isn't really malicious, just a Spoiled Brat. He's the Spoiled Sweet for the former half of the story, but later acts out when he doesn't get what he wants.
- The Atoner: Jackie's mother, for abandoning her.
- Coming of Age Story: Jackie is nineteen at the beginning of the story. Taking everything into account, her love interest Kiko is most likely the same age.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Jackie employs the prospect of sex to keep Kiko blindfolded and cuffed before she attempts to escape from the medical mission. His giggly, virginal reaction is Played for Laughs.
- Exotic Backdrop Setting: Averted. The Aeta people, an Indigenous tribe, actually have significant screen time and interactions with the leads. Aeta customs are also in full display.
- Freudian Excuse: Parodied and Played for Laughs with Kiko making excuses for Jackie's aloof, rude behavior (e.g. "She just had a sad childhood").
- Fish out of Water: Jackie, a City Mouse, during the medical mission in Tarlac.
- Guilt Complex: Kiko is encumbered by one. Who wouldn't be, with parents who take every opportunity to place inordinate responsibility and blame on your shoulders?
- Manic Pixie Dream Boy: Kiko appears to be one. He's cute and charming and helps Jackie shape up and become a happier, healthier person. However, the tables turn as the movie progresses, as Jackie realizes his selflessness is a little too much, and he's neglecting himself.Jackie: You lifted me up so high. It's hard to be left hanging in the air. [...]You always tell me to think of other people. But when will you think of yourself? You can't just keep on giving, Kiko. You'll get drained eventually.
- Meet Cute: The two leads meet when Jackie's phone is pickpocketed and Kiko rushes to help her retrieve it. However, as it turns out, she's quite able to fend the thief off by herself.
- Of Course I'm Not a Virgin: Averted with Kiko. He's a young adult man, but unlike in the West, there isn't really expectation for him to have lost his virginity at his age. He's unmarried, so whether or not he is a virgin doesn't reflect on his in-universe attractiveness.
- Parental Neglect: Jackie's mother is guilty of this, but explicitly wants to make amends. Kiko's father is guilty of it too, but has yet to come to this realization.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Jackie is short and petite, but quite the Action Girl.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Kiko delivers a satisfying one to his father, his casually snobby stepmother, and Marcus near the end of the film.
- Rule of Symbolism: Jackie and fire/the color red. Her hair is dyed red, her surname Serrano is a pepper that comes in red, and she's later compared to a lava-spewing volcano. The symbolic significance is easy to apprehend, of course. She's volatile and passionate.
- Sheltered Aristocrat: Averted with Kiko. He has a rich father, but is very Street Smart. Also Justified in the context as his father has remarried and begun to neglect his children from his ex-wife over the years. On the other hand, Kiko's pampered half-brother, Marcus, plays this trope straight.
- Taking Advantage of Generosity: Kiko is a bit too responsible and authoritative to really be called an Extreme Doormat, but he sure is an easy victim to this. Marcus' mother's emotional manipulations don't help.
- Troubled, but Cute: Jackie. She's gorgeous and glamorous, but the movie's plot is kicked off by her arrest.
- Uptown Girl: Played with. Jackie is from a well-off family. Kiko has a rich father, with whom he is in touch, but he and his siblings and mother still grapple with financial problems and live in a small house because of his father's favoritism and neglect.
- Wicked Stepmother: Downplayed. Marcus' mother isn't wicked, per se, but is nonchalantly cruel and manipulative to a perfectly kind teenage boy like Kiko. It's heavily implied that classism is a factor in this. Although not technically poor, as he's still in touch with his rich father, Kiko's upbringing is markedly different from the Americanized Marcus'.
