Starring: Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, and Jennifer Lawrence
Love is a truly unpredictable thing that can challenge, inspire, and torment you at the same time. When you find it, you should hold onto it. It undoubtedly will present many challenges and a taste for a few strong drinks along the way. No challenge is more difficult or painful than distance. Specifically, long distance relationships can hurt like hell and can kill the spark between two lovers. InLike Crazy, Drake Doremus explores the challenges presented by love. He strips the film of all fantastical notions of love and shows the world how truly painful it can be.
Jacob (Anton Yelchin) and Anna (Felicity Jones) meet in college in California and instantly fall in love. There's only one problem--life. Jacob is from the US, while Anna is a native of the UK. When graduation comes, Anna's visa expires. Blindly in love, she opts to stay with Jacob in the US during the summer and violates her student visa. When Anna finally returns home to the UK, her college romance with Jacob abruptly becomes a serious long distance relationship. Having violated her visa, she has some trouble re-entering the United States. These newfound geographic obstacles test the limits of Jacob and Anna's young love.
Normally, I'm one to say that you should pull out some liquor and start taking shots for romance flicks. They're usually dull and sappy, and only the good stuff can help ease this sort of pain. However, Drake Doremus'Like Crazywill grab you and show you the often true nature of young love if you let it. It's not a formulaic romance that starts with lovers meeting, samples some relationship issues, and ends with a nice, neatly packaged resolution.Like Crazydoes anything but embrace Hollywood's stereotypical notion of romance. There's something real and authentic about the film that more filmmakers should strive to emulate.
At 89 minutes total,Like Crazy is short but certainly not sweet. This is what distinguishes the film from other typical romance dramas. It delves into the pains of romance and how the spark between two lovers can die under the wrong circumstances. Jacob and Anna do everything they can to make one another happy, but the obstacles of their long distance relationship may be too great to overcome. Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones deliver impressive performances as the young couple. They have both the on-screen chemistry and the acting chops to pull off the subtle acting needed in this delicate, understated film.
For its realistic tackling of love and life, Doremus' Like Crazygets a sober rating. Ladies, you won't need any liquor to enjoy this honest romance film. Gentlemen, I realize this is a love flick, so liquor up as necessary despite the sober rating.
