Posted on: December 16, 2013 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

 

 

On the surface, Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus, starting even with the film’s title, sounds like a bad indie movie cliché. A coming of age/road trip movie with plenty of subtitles, drawn out discussions about life, blah, blah, blah. But somehow the movie manages to play within these same overly-familiar set ups, but with impressive results.

 

Michael Cera plays the typical American jackass abroad (well cast, by the way), hanging out in Chile with three brothers, intent on getting their hands on a San Pedro cactus, taking it to a secluded beach and getting stoned silly off the plant. They hook up with an American neo-hippie named Crystal Fairy (played brilliantly by Gaby Hoffman) and head off to 20-something drug nirvana.

 

Thanks to brilliant acting and some very non-cliché plotlines, Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus manages to transcend what could easily have been a routine indie comedy and instead offers up an endearing road trip movie.

 

 

Crystal-Fairy-The-Magical-Cactus-DVD

Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus DVD Review

 

Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus /99 mins./MPI Home Video/2013 / http://www.mpimedia.com /

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