Like Crazy Review: Liking This Movie Isn’t Crazy At All

I’m going to be honest; I was scared to see Like Crazy. Romantic dramas are usually hit or miss for me. They can either be really, really good, or they can leave me feeling rather nauseated. And, frankly, most of them fall into the second category.  I was even more nervous because I absolutely love star Anton Yelchin, who played the lead in one of my favorite teen comedies of all time, Charlie Bartlett, and I was going to be super bummed if Like Crazy wasn’t good after I’d grown to love him so much.

Lucky for me, I really had nothing to worry about.

Like Crazy follows two young people, Anna (Felicity Jones) and Jacob (Anton Yelchin), attending college in Los Angeles. The two fall in love, but matters are complicated when Anna, who is British, overstays her visa after graduation to spend more time with Jacob. This one decision sets the stage for their relationship over the next few years. After going home for a family visit, Anna learns that she won’t be allowed back in America due to her visa violation. What follows is a very real, very honest depiction of a long distance relationship as Anna and Jacob realize that it’s hard to stay together, but it’s even harder to let each other go.

What makes this movie fall into the not-nauseating category is that it deftly avoids any sort of melodrama. Many major moments in Anna and Jacob’s relationship are left out, which leaves room for the audience to fill in the blank, but also lets us avoid any sort of overdramatizing. Instead of seeing the most groundbreaking moments in the lives of these characters, we see the more realistic side, the day-to-day bits that change their lives, even if they don’t know it.  And while many intense and unhappy moments happen on screen, the film never becomes annoyingly sappy. Instead it always remains realistic and honest.

It was the honesty of this movie that stood out to me the most, actually. Both Yelchin and Jones, as well as the supporting cast, are great in their roles, but a great deal of credit has to be given to screenwriters Drake Doremus and Ben York Jones. The dialogue in this movie is so spot-on that it’s almost shocking. Doremus and Jones manage to catch the subtleties of realistic conversation most screenwriters miss. Anna and Jacob’s first date is awkward, but not in a romantic comedy, over-the-top sort of way, but in that real first date sort of way where you make a joke and realize a second later that you may have sounded really stupid just then.  You can almost feel the characters uneasiness and embarrassment, which makes the scene even sweeter for it’s reality.

And then there are parts of the film that are utterly painful in their realness. In one scene in which Anna and Jacob argue, I found myself cringing in my seat. It felt as if I was intruding on a private moment, a guest in a house with two people having one of the most important and uncomfortable conversations of their lives.  There was no dramatic music, no scene of Anna bursting into tears, no screaming of profound and earth-shattering truths.  No, instead there are two people arguing but trying to pretend they’re not. “Don’t shout at me!” Anna says at one point. “Why are you shouting?” It was just so real.

But it wasn’t just the dialogue. The entirety of the movie was surprisingly honest.  The way it portrayed long-distance relationships seemed spot on – the flurry of text messages, the missed phone calls, the attempts to move on, the inability to say goodbye, even when there’s another person in the picture. Nothing comes easy for these characters; there is no simple, clean-cut solution. Just as there rarely is one in life.

If you’re a fan of good writing, good acting, and quiet, honest stories, Like Crazy is the film to see. It’s sweet enough for a romantic and bitter enough for a cynic. Check it out if you get the chance.

Images courtesy of Paramount Pictures and IMDBPro.