The Cool and the Crazy (1976) from Tuna

Cool and the Crazy (1994 Showtime) is a slice of life film set in the late 50's.

Two couples marry right out of High School. Two years later, each couple includes one baby, one husband who spends too much time at work and comes home tired, and one wife sick of staying at home and being ignored. Roslyn (Alicia Silverstone) is beginning to realize how unhappy she is, but has no idea what to do about it. Her best friend, Joanne (Jennifer Blank) has the problem already solved. She is having an affair with a "bad boy," and eventually convinces Roslyn to go out with her. The boyfriends are what was then called Juvenile Delinquents. The didn't work, were married, spent hours a day running their combs through their greased DA hair, and generally did anything they thought they could get away with.

Rosyln's husband (Jared Leto) was suspicious, yet at the same time, was facing his own temptation - a Venice Beach beatnik who worked with him. Eventually, Roslyn got caught by her hubby, and both couples separated. Hubby finally did the beatnik chick.

These types did indeed inhabit the late 50s. On the other hand, who cares? We are long past the "get married and raise a family, wife stays home and makes babies" era, so this has no current relevance, and is not especially interesting. The worst part, however, was the acting. Silverstone had a bad habit of screeching unintelligibly, Leto played every scene angry, and bad boy Joey (Matthew Flint) chewed the scenery in a way-over-the-top performance.

They did nail the period details in terms of costume, set decoration, makeup and attitudes. The soundtrack alternates between believable 50's R&B, and a cool jazz score anytime the beatnik chick is on screen. They got the atmosphere right, but I don't know whey they bothered, because they forgot to tell an interesting story.

Scoop's note:

An interesting sidebar is that the film was directed by Ralph Bakshi, the guy who, way back in the hippie era, directed Fritz the Cat. Animation was Ralph's specialty. He started by directing and writing many cartoons in the 60s, and eventually directed the animated version of Lord of the Rings in 1978. The Cool and the Crazy is one of his rare forays into live action. Given Bakshi's background in cartoons and the meager result, we might call it a jejune foray.

(Sorry, not only a bad pun, but a very obscure one).