Review: Like Crazy

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Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones in Like Crazy

It's fall of 2006 -- or perhaps it's spring of 2007, dates are unclear -- and British exchange student Anna (Felicity Jones, Brideshead Revisited) leaves a note on a windshield for her crush Jacob (Anton Yelchin, Star Trek). Thus, the romance that forms the basis for Like Crazy is initiated.

Jacob is an aspiring furniture designer, Anna wants to be a journalist, and they both love Paul Simon's Graceland. The sparks between these two are, umm, crazy as we see their relationship bloom. Suddenly it's the end of the school year and Anna's visa is up, and the decision she makes at this point leads to the immigration debacle that keeps the lovers apart for months at a time.

Years pass, I think (like I said, dates are unclear in this movie) and Anna and Jacob break up and get back together because long distance relationships are hard, y'all. Especially when communication is so difficult -- well, at least between these two twentysomethings, it is. Yelchin and Jones are destined for great things, and this film serves as an excellent showcase for their talent. While their characters make stupid mistakes (as we humans are wont to do), Anna and Jacob remain likeable and relatable.

The connection Jones and Yelchin pull off between their two characters is achingly plausible. Another character tells Anna about a time when she and her husband lived on different coasts and how they attempted to live "separate but together." Whether the relationship between Anna and Jacob is strong enough -- or whether either character is patient enough -- to survive such a separation creates the core drama of the film.

Like Crazy is beautiful to watch, even entrancing at times, and John Guleserian's cinematography and Drake Doremus' direction have a lot to do with that. The score by Dustin O'Halloran, as well as songs by Stars, m83 and others, all provide a perfect complement to the couple's story. A lovely Jennifer Lawrence shows up as a co-worker/love interest for Jacob, and Alex Kingston and Oliver Muirhead seem a natural fit as Anna's whiskey-loving parents.

Doremus' film is pieced together from snippets of Anna and Jacob's lives during their time together and apart. The viewer has to figure out: are they a couple at this point? Are they cheating on each other? Do they just have an open relationship? How much time has passed since the last scene?

This is not your typical Hollywood romance flick. If you prefer your romance movies typical and formulaic, then Like Crazy is not for you. This film is definitely one of my favorites for the year. I'm a sucker for a good romance, and Like Crazy is one of the more authentic glimpses at a relationship I've seen on the big screen.