Mental illness looks like a lot of fun

Rating: 5/10 (2 October 2013)

I enjoyed the movie the way I like reading secretly "People" magazine as a sort of escapism but then feeling guilty that common sense lost a battle over knowledge of mundane details of real life. But after the movie had ended, I realized that it was just another example of surrendering my sense of realism to tricky ways of enternteintment industry - and its ingenious ways of manipulating even more sophisticated audience into believing that serious matters need only a layer of honey and all will be be good at the end. I admit that the movie was fun to watch for its quirky humor and eccentric characters, but was it a realistic description of mental illness? I dare say that not. Actually I think that being mental case looked in this movie like a lot of fun. You are crazy but there are still lots of people around you although in real life families and friends slowly leave you. In the movie our main characters are supported by many family members and friends - the idea I cannot buy easily seeing so many lonely, crazy people living on streets. And what about hard realities of life such as money? He is in a mental hospital for months, has a very patient psychiatrist(only in movies)and have no problem obtaining medicine which is quite expensive in USA. Who is paying for all of that? He has no insurance after being fired and his family doesn't look rich to me. And another perk of being a crazy person according to movie: you really don't have to look for work in this lousy economy ; you get off the hook because after all - you are crazy and nobody expect anything of you. What a relief! And you still are able to do all those funny things like going to games,participating in dance contests, living in nice places, meeting easily new love interest- and a quite hot one. Well, if mental problems are like that I wish to be put on the list of candidates. It certainly beats our mundane, boring lives and constant worries about jobs,children, pensions, getting old.ill and poor. Well, dear viewer - it is like that: a lot of mentally ill people end up on streets, neither get proper treatment nor medicine; many families reject them as too much of a problem to handle. So watch the movie as something to do on a boring winter night if you need some fun but don't believe it. Life isn't like that. If you really need to watch movie about realities of being crazy and living with a crazy person - watch "A woman under the influence" directed by John Cassavetes with Gena Rowlands as a crazy housewife and Peter Falk playing her husband. That's how life really looks like when you suffer from mental illness - not fun at all.