Like Crazy

Like Crazy is a film directed by Drake Doremus and co-written by Drake Doremus and Ben York Jones.  The film follows two college students who fall in love.  Jacob (Anton Yelchin) is an American while Anna (Felicity Jones) is on student visa from England.  The courtship between the two characters is pleasant and happy until Anna violates the terms of the visa by staying the summer to be with her love.  Anna’s decision has long-term ramifications for her relationship with Jacob.  Jacob has to do a long distance relationship with Anna.  The film basically asks us what we would do for love and for this couple it seems they would do everything in order to show love for the other person.

Like Crazy is not a love story; it’s a story about the value of a relationship.  Anton and Felicity have marvelous chemistry as Jacob and Anna.  Everything about this relationship focuses on keeping love in extraordinary circumstances.  Anna’s mistake was overstaying her visa knowing that there would be consequences if she did.  Jacob fights considerably hard to keep Anna with him.  Jacob even visits England a few times so that he can be close to Anna.  The struggles that this particular couple face all seem organic and real to me.  I couldn’t help but be reminded of a long distance relationship I once had while watching this film and how much that person meant in my life.  Tonally, people say this film is very similar to last year’s bleak romantic drama Blue Valentine, I disagree.  Like Crazy has a lighter tone with a few very intense moments that counteract the moments of sincere love that Jacob and Anna display towards one another.  When Jacob and Anna fight, it’s over issues we see earlier in the film and their anger at each other makes sense and is justified when things reach a breaking point.  Like Crazy is by no means a cheerful movie, but the points of anger between Jacob and Anna are not consistent enough for the film to be considered as bleak as Blue Valentine.  I love this movie because its realistic and natural.  Most of the credit goes to Yelchin and Jones for improvising most of their dialogue and giving their characters enough raw emotion to feel genuine.

Like Crazy is one of the most realistic film portrayals of being in a relationship and is a film that is not to be missed.  Like Crazy drove me crazy, in a very good way.