It seems unreal to me that I'm writing this review. I first found the trailer for Like Crazy last month and instantly wanted to watch the film. I went to IMDb for more information and it said it had already been released in the UK in February this year. Counting the months off on my fingers I decided it therefore must be available on DVD but scouring Amazon, Play.com and Ebay and finding nothing soon made me very confused. I tried to find information anywhere I could. Pretty much all I could see was that it had won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Great. Further proof that this film was amazing but where could I see it??
Eventually I checked back with IMDb and it had changed its story. It was now saying the film was coming out on 3rd Feb 2012 over here. Maybe I mis-read it the first time but I was sure it had said it'd already come out. Anyway, a couple of weeks later a booklet was dropped on my desk at work advertising the BFI London Film Festival and low and behold, they were showing Like Crazy. One frantic visit to the website later revealed that both showings were sold out.
I rang them a week later and managed to get one solitary ticket. But I wanted to go with my best friend and explained this to the nice man. He told me they almost always have tickets on the day so we went to London on the off chance that we would be able to get her a ticket. And we did! Hurrah!
The film starts off as your typical girl meets boy, the girl is british student Anna (Felicity Jones), who is studying at a college in Los Angeles. The boy is fellow student Jacob (Anton Yelchin). The pair fall so in love that Anna decides to stay in LA after student visa has expired. She returns to the UK a few months later but when she tries to re-enter the states she is denied entry because she violated her previous visa. And so follows a story of two people trying to make it work under the pressure of great distance.
Having never been in a long distance relationship myself I can't comment on whether this is an accurate portrayal of one. But I can say that it seems more realistic than most I've seen. The performances from the two leads are mature (for such young actors) and thoughtful. I know from articles that I read (when I was trying to find out more information) that most of the dialogue was improvised which just speaks volumes about how they seem to have really taken the time to create these characters, rather than just taking their cue from the writer/director. I also thought Jennifer Lawrence's performance, although a much smaller role, was heartbreaking.
The only thing I would change is the very abrupt ending which left one person sitting near me to ask 'do you think there'll be a sequel?' The answer is no, I don't think there will. The message at the end was very clear to me. But that doesn't mean it had to end there. I could have happily watched for another 15-30 minutes as you get so wrapped up in these characters lives that you want nothing but things between them to work out.
This is a film which will no doubt get a lot of critical praise but which probably won't get a nationwide release in order to get the audience numbers that will make it a hit. If it comes to an independent cinema near you I urge you to seek it out and go see it. 9 out of 10.
Viewing Date - 15th October 2011
UK Release Date - 3rd February 2012 (subject to change!)
Cast Overview:
Anton Yelchin ~ Jacob
Felicity Jones ~ Anna
Jennifer Lawrence ~ Sam
Charlie Bewley ~ Simon
Alex Kingston ~ Jackie
Oliver Muirhead ~ Bernard
Director ~ Drake Doremus
Writer(s) ~ Drake Doremus and Ben York Jones
