Like Crazy

Overview

I had virtually given up on Hollywood-template rom-coms, as in the past few years they seem, at best, generic with occasional glimpses of humour and originality and, at worse, a vomit-inducing nightmare of indie love songs and corny romance.

Like Crazy is a refreshing take on the genre. The story is simple: Anna (Felicity Jones) comes to LA for a semester and falls for Jacob (Anton Yelchin), but when her student visa runs out, she is romantic/stupid and decides to stay for the summer. This means Anna isn't allowed back into America once she does leave for London, and they are sentenced to make their love last long-distance.

The film follows their relationship over a number of years, which is apparent through job changes and new partners but is a little clumsily done with montage and flashbacks, so be advised to take their sudden changes in sentiment with a grain of salt. It does get a little whiny and slow in patches, and it is a shame that the sideline relationships they both have don't get explored, as it seems director Drake Doremus does not want to distract from what he sees as the purity of Anna and Jacob's love, which is almost a character in itself.

The thing I liked about Like Crazy was its authenticity. All the frustration, pain and awkward long-distance phone calls were subtle and very much relatable. Jacob wasn't a dashing heartthrob (although Anna was undeniably adorable) and it was a pleasant change not to get caught up with hating them for being too good-looking. As they're both creative (Anna is a writer and Jacob designs and makes furniture), their romantic gestures are sweet and fairly unique, as is the Paul Simon soundtrack running through it instead of the usual top-10 indie hits at the time of the film being made.

The story is a very simple one of whether you can overcome the adversity of falling in love with someone whose situation makes it impossible. Having been in a similar situation myself, I appreciated the honesty of the movie but imagined that a lot of other people would find it a little dull and lacking in humour. I'm grateful, however, that the tween market has something to watch that is of quality whilst still being light-hearted.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=hTUvX_pYNBM