Director: William H Macy
Writer: Will Aldis (Screenplay)
Starring: Rosario Dawson, Nick Robinson, T.I. Grant Gustin, Felicity Huffman, William H Macy, Kathy Bates
Plot: A young man living a sheltered life develops a crush on an ex-stripper and joins her Alcoholics Anonymous group just so he can be in the same room with her.
Tagline – She turns men into boys and boys into men
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Krystal starts when 18-year-old Taylor Ogburn (Robinson) who hasn’t taken many chances in his life, meets Krystal Bryant (Dawson) on the beach, he falls in love wanting to help her, despite the fact she is twice his age, with a kid Bobby (Latimore) only a couple of years younger than Taylor.
Taylor must start to learn about growing up, when Krystal’s ex Willie (T.I.) returns to her life, wanting her back, leaving the unlikely pairing in the middle of nowhere.
Thoughts on Krystal
Characters & Performances – Taylor has had a medical condition his whole life and when his latest episode happens, he wants to start trying to live his life more after he falls for Krystal, an older woman, he gets caught up in a lie, which will see him getting closer to her, learning that people can always have secrets that will be hard to deal with. Nick Robinson does everything well in the film, part of what happens with the accent does get annoying, which is the same for all the male performers in this film, with their deep south accent not sounding right. Krystal is the mysterious woman to Taylor that walks into his life, she is a recovered addict, that has put her life back together where she is holding everything together for her disabled son. She doesn’t want anything to do with Taylor before learning more about him. Rosario Dawson does give this older woman a life that would appeal to the younger person. We do meet Taylor’s family, which is parents who have guided him their way and the older brother who has achieved more, while seeing Krystal’s side, with her son dealing with his problems well for the first time since being disabled and the old flame does bring the threat to the film.
Story – The story here follows a young man who falls in love with an older woman who helps save his life, which will see him looking to try and change himself to win her heart. This is a story that does look to show how finding yourself is the most important thing in life, you don’t need to fake being someone, if you are honest, along with a wacky side effect to everything connecting the people involved. It doesn’t end up being much fresh in the genre and is truly off putting with the dodging accents.
Themes – Krystal is a drama comedy that tries to play light into the mood being created by the situation, it doesn’t get the laughs you would expect, with a lot of the comedy missing often.
Final Thoughts – Krystal is a lacklustre comedy playing into the older woman fantasy.
