Like Crazy has a special Instaweep feature installed to the preview reel. I am proud to say as a survivor of the film I was not in tears more than 30% of the time. Ok, maybe 40%.
Two very attractive students: Anna (Felicity Jones) and Jacob (Anton Yelchin) fall in love. She starts it by leaving a lengthy personal note with a phone number on his windshield wiper. I encourage this behavior whole-heartedly. Before long, the two fall for each other in ways that make Cupid jealous – they giggle and chase on the beach; they trace faces through panes of glass; they exchange hand-written notes in otherwise empty rooms. I love the latter bit – there’s a suggestion there that love is a secret between them, as if to say not even the camera is allowed to know. But, of course, the camera does know – Anna and Jacob fall more convincingly for each other than any pair you’ll see this year. Go next door to that stupid-ass Twilight film – tell me who is more convincingly in love.
Then … the big mistake. Anna has a plane to catch. It’s the summer, she’s a Brit, and her student Visa is set to expire. Here, Like Crazy functions as both cautionary tale for the uninitiated and “what if?” scenario for vets who have battled feverishly on the front lines of romance. I swear I’ve had this choice and totally sympathize. Odds are you’ve had this choice in some form, too. So what does she do? She takes the road none of us take – she stays. She gives in to immediate pleasure, says, “consequences schmonsquences,” instead of long-term gain and pretends the future doesn’t exist. And Anna and Jacob are allowed to love for a summer.
There is a price to be paid. And when other pretty people (Jennifer Lawrence and Charlie Bewley) show up, too, we start getting a sense of exactly what the price is.
One of the things I love about this romance is we never pretend the principals are anything more than they are – he is a furniture designer; she’s a mildly talented writer. We don’t need them to be anything more than that to fall in love. Just because neither is Marily Monroe or King George VI doesn’t make their pain any less. And, of course, it makes it more real because we both care about them and perhaps recognize some of ourselves in these two. I know very well what a long distance relationship is like. It sucks. It’s damn painful to watch a version of your own ecstatic joy-turned-sour on celluloid. I can only guess that writer/director Drake Doremus has been there, too.
Rated PG-13, 90 Minutes
D: Drake Doremus
W: Drake Doremus, Ben York Jones
Genre: The consequences of romance
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Lovers
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Noobs
