Like Crazy (2011)
Directed by Drake Doremus
Written by Drake Doremus
Starring Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence
Release Date October 28th, 2011
Published November 12th, 2011
My eyes welled up with tears when I first saw the trailer for the indie romance "Like Crazy." So, if even a jaded film critic can be this deeply affected by a movie trailer it's fair to imagine that this must be one terrific movie right? Wrong. "Like Crazy" is a mumbling, stumbling, indie bore-a-thon about two exceptionally uninteresting people going through one of the least interesting romances of the year.
Don't ignore your visa
Jacob (Anton Yelchin) and Anna (Felicity Jones) met at college when she left a note on the windshield of his car. She writes lovely poetry and he draws pretty pictures and together they have a chance to be a pretty couple doing pretty things. Jacob even makes pretty furniture for a living while Anna, in the US on a visa that's near expiration, is studying to become a writer. That expiring visa is an important plot point as are the vagaries of US immigration post-9/11 so pay attention.
Long distance relationship
As Jacob and Anna fall madly in love she decides to blow off the fact that her visa has expired and stays an extra three months to be with Jacob. It's Anna's suggestion that they spend the summer in bed and a cute, chaste montage shows them doing exactly that until Anna must leave the country for a family matter. Having overstayed her visa Anna is prevented from returning to America. The two lovebirds try to do the long distance relationship thing but this is a universe that is apparently devoid of Skype and the ability to figure out time zones and so they continually miss each other's calls.
Hey look, it's Jennifer Lawrence
Eventually, Jacob and Anna give up and start seeing other people. At about the 45 minute mark of "Like Crazy" Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence pops up, seemingly from another movie, and for a moment things improve. It's as if the producers realized the film was getting stale and shoved Lawrence in front of the camera to save the day. It doesn't work; Lawrence's Sam is a sweetheart who with great effort falls for Yelchin's banal romantic lead but she can't compete with the memory of Anna who Jacob runs back to and marries before giving up again after just a few months.
Soul sucking banality
Watching "Like Crazy" is like being trapped in an elevator with a pair of angst-riddled hipsters attempting to overcome apathy long enough to actually break up. Will their effort lead to a resolution? I will leave you to discover that you should go against my recommendation and suffer your way through "Like Crazy." After watching the remarkable trailer for "Like Crazy" I was convinced that this could be the 2011 version of "Once;" a modest, heart-aches little indie romance that converses with our romantic souls. Then I saw the movie and I felt my soul being sucked from body by the utter banality of "Like Crazy."
A winner at Sundance
In fairness, maybe the expectations I placed on "Like Crazy" were too high. I have never before been choked up by a trailer and I allowed that fact to color my opinion of the film. With that said, the film was still a disappointment, a boring, full of itself master-class of indie self-indulgence. "Like Crazy" was a big winner at the Sundance Film Festival. If that makes you want to check it out don't say I didn't warn you. This is one of those movies where the disconnect between the festival audience and the general audience is vast.
