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Grade: C

Verdict: Unclear ending muddies the diagnosis.

Details: Starring Eriq La Salle and Michael Beach. Directed by Eriq La Salle. Unrated but contains nudity, sexual situations and some violence. One hour, 53 minutes.

See it: Local theaters and showtimes for Crazy as Hell

Rate it: Write your own review

Review: Al Pacino was slick and seductive in "Devil's Advocate." Gabriel Byrne gave a smug, rapacious turn in "End of Days." Jack Nicholson opted for arched eyebrows and a ponytail in "The Witches of Eastwick."

What actor could resist a chance to play Satan?

Eriq La Salle, breaking loose from his bottled-up role as Dr. Peter Benton on television's "ER," didn't sit around waiting for his turn. He made it happen — directing, producing and starring in "Crazy as Hell," a movie in which Satan checks into a mental hospital for a little psychotheraphy and some serious soul hunting.

The target of his torment? Dr. Ty Adams (Michael Beach), an up-and-coming psychiatric star who has ruffled more than a few professional feathers with his "non-medicinal" approach to treating mental illness. His unorthodox ideas have earned him a 30-day educational stint at a state mental hospital, with a documentary film team following his every move.

Can he rescue some of the country's most hopeless cases?

Well, you don't have to know the Bible to see that Dr. Adams, who refuses to admit failure, has fallen prey to the sin of pride.

Of course, his theories did not work with his own schizophrenic, suicidal daughter — a memory that bedevils the doctor at the most inopportune times.

But back to La Salle. With long laquered fingernails, a pencil-thin goatee and outrageous outfits, his Satan doesn't hide in the shadows. He is out there, in the world, hunting for an adversary he can admire.

"The more you know, the less sense the old man makes," Satan shrugs, dismissing God.

"I am tired of being blamed for every vile and evil thing in the world. It makes me angry and apocalyptic. I want a soul."

Not just any soul. A passionate, righteous soul. A soul of someone determined to prove the rest of the world wrong — including the skeptical director of the state hospital, Dr. Delazo (Ronny Cox).

How much does Dr. Adams want to succeed? How much does he believe La Salle is really Satan?

Adapted from a novel by Jeremy Leven, "Crazy as Hell" is engaging when the camera is on La Salle and Beach, but lacks a coherent narrative in the beginning and end.

La Salle is physically imposing — whether in black leather, boots and ruffles, or nothing at all — and his Satan is curious, funny, sexy and spiteful. Beach is a true "type A" control freak, but his interactions with inmates are believable and keep the film grounded in reality.

Still, the role of the documentary film team is never quite explained, and the inmates' recreation hall is too much of a freak show for a hospital that relies so heavily on medication.

And a dream sequence at the end? Pleeeease. If anyone really understands how "Crazy as Hell" ends, post it on the Internet. That would help those of us who watched it several times and still don't know.

La Salle does a fine job in front of the camera and a workmanlike job behind it. He needs to improve those screenwriting skills.

— Sheila Norman-Culp, The Associated Press