The Last Movie I Saw: Like Crazy

Like Crazy opened yesterday and as it is a smaller movie, I felt like I needed to tell some of you about it, because as you are about to read, I really liked it.

The film begins with an American boy, Jacob (Anton Yelchin), and a British girl, Anna (Felicity Jones, who I have watched and re-watched several times in the most recent adaptation of Northanger Abbey), falling in love. Anybody who has ever seen a movie knows that if we start with people falling in love, they are bound to run into some bumps in the road. Like Crazy is no different. Anna overstays her student visa to remain with Jacob in Los Angeles after they graduate, but is eventually found out and forced to return to London. Now they must learn how to handle being constantly drawn to each other while being thousands of miles apart, and as the film progresses that distance becomes more than just physical.

In interviews, director Drake Doremus has said that much of the dialogue in the film is improvised. The actors were simply given an outline of what needed to happen in the given scene. The result of this was me cringing throughout a good chunk of the movie because everything feels agonizingly real. Recently, I wrote a post on wanting to live in a Nora Ephron movie because I was amazed at how she was able to make her characters seem so naturally eloquent and witty. As I was watching the new film Like Crazy last night, I came to the realization that as much as I want to be in a Nora Ephron movie, it is the world of Like Crazy in which we actually live. And I am intending that as praise. When Anna and Jacob argue, it is a real argument of sputtering and not knowing how to state your case. When they go on their first date, it is awkward but sweet. This is no Hollywood romance, but a real, honest-to-goodness romance, with all the red-faced crying that usually comes with it.

Felicity Jones is getting a lot of praise for her performance in this film, but I will extend my praise to Yelchin, as well. As both characters go through this hurricane of emotions, you can see every single one written all over their faces as clear as day.

With all that said, I suppose this long-winded review could be summed up like this: Like Crazy is one of the most honest movies I have ever seen and I think you should see it, too.