“I want you. I need you. I love you. I miss you.” – that is the tagline of Like Crazy, and it should give you a pretty good indication of what to expect from the film. In fact, the title Like Crazy is pretty apt as we follow a young couple fresh out of college who make a series of stupid mistakes that sends their relationship into a downward spiral. And we, the audience, are supposed to care about them through it all. The filmmakers made the good choice of casting two adorable and talented leads to guide us through the narrative - Anton Yelchin as Jacob and Felicity Jones as Anna. And it is easy to relate as we have all been young, in love, and completely stupid. But the film starts itself off with the female character overstaying her visa, being sent back to England, and banned from the United States. That’s a pretty big mistake. But then the filmmakers keep letting their characters make mistakes over and over again when it seems clear that there is a solution to this problem. When you are young and in love you are supposed to do crazy things to make it survive. Here the characters just do crazy things to drive the audience, and each other, mad.
The chemistry between Yelchin and Jones is undeniable and they really do carry the film to the best of their ability. Anna seems a bit more smitten than Jacob does, but aren’t men always a bit more difficult? Anna is willing to give it all up for Jacob, but it doesn’t seem like he is ready or willing to return the favor. This ends up making the love story a bit one sided and it becomes hard to root for either one of them. Still, there are many poignant and honest moments in the film that had me thinking back to previous serious long distance relationships. The visa issue also hit close to home for me as I have a very good friend who struggled for years to extend her visa in the US. She is now living in Japan looking for an opportunity to try again and return to the US. On these two issues the film hits the nail on the head.
Like Crazy introduces two side love interests for both Jacob and Anna, but doesn’t do them the courtesy of making them into real characters. I can see the point of keeping them in the dark in order to illustrate how even in other relationships Jacob and Anna still only think of each other. But then why go and cast someone as beautiful and talented as Jennifer Lawrence if you aren’t going to bother to use her at all? Lawrence does bring it her all though in a scene where Jacob tells her that he has to go back to England to be with Anna. You can see the pain on her face when she tells Jacob that she loves him, but all he can do is say he’s sorry. Unfortunately, the screenplay doesn’t service these two actors in what could have been a powerful moment and simply lets Lawrence walk out the door without a word. It makes Jacob look like a dick and makes Sam look like a pathetic pushover. Anna’s love interest is explored even less as all we really know about him is the he is her next-door neighbor.
The film ends with a semi-ambiguous coda that seems to imply that maybe loving like crazy isn’t all its cracked up to be. I could have told Jacob and Anna that from the beginning and saved them the trouble. However, there is plenty of heart here and perhaps I’m just too cynical to appreciate a film like this. But not long ago I too was twenty-one and completely crazy stupid in love. Life goes on, you meet new people, and things change. The essence of that is captured well here. I just wish the characters had been smart enough to make the right decisions or at least fix the mistakes they made. But then again, when you are in love Like Crazy, there is no end to the bad decisions you will make.
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