If you think driving a car with your eyes closed is fun, go ahead and rent Mad Love. For those of you who are over the age of sixteen and know better, there's no reason for you to see this movie. This quirky, reckless romantic movie starring Drew Barrymore and Chris O'Donnell is one giant teen-fest. Parents are strict and don't understand anyone else's problems, safety isn't an issue, and true love can be proved by raging hormones.

Now, since I am a proud '90s kid, I did see this movie when I was in high school. I'm not judging anyone who saw it, or even anyone who liked it. We all have nostalgia movies that remind us of our first loves, and if this is one of those movies for you, that's fine. Then again, since Drew Barrymore's character is crazy, maybe it's not fine and you need to figure out why you like this movie if it does remind you of your first relationship. My recommendation, since the 1990s are unfortunately over, is to take this movie with a grain of salt. If you didn't grow up in the decade where standing up in a moving car was a good idea and falling in love with a lunatic was just considered "young and reckless" then there's no way you can take this movie seriously. Just realize that Chris O'Donnell is going to be enormously stupid and Drew Barrymore is going to be enormously crazy, and let it go at that.

Matt Leland (Chris O'Donnell) has talkative best friend Eric (Matthew Lillard). Matt is taken with new girl Casey Roberts (Drew Barrymore). They begin a wild relationship. She gets suspended and her parents put her away. He helps her escape the psych ward and they go on a road trip. However, her manic depressive state gets more volatile and beyond his ability to help.

I never bought Chris O'Donnell as a romantic lead. He's too white bread and doesn't have the passion. This is love at first sight and who can blame him. Drew can do that to many men but I don't see them as Romeo and Juliet. Drew is convincing with mental illness but it is a little overwrought. I'm not really that invested in this relationship. This is a lesser 90s teen melodrama.

Just when you thought movies in the 1990s couldn't get any worse, along comes this lumpy stew of a teen romance. I wasn't sure the picture could actually sink any lower from the ludicrous opening sequence (scored with an abominable rock song); unfortunately, it does. Boy meets girl at school, they flirt, they date, they run off together. The conceit here is that she's mentally unbalanced. It isn't a fresh spin, although the filmmakers and the cast proceed like they're doing something new, and who knows? Maybe the young audience targeted for the picture actually believe in its sentiments. To all of us over 30 it's pretty excruciating, not to mention terribly irresponsible, and not quite the "wild and sexy adventure" advertised. NO STARS from ****