First love is intense, sometimes foolish. A single spark turns into an insatiable longing that turns into a string of gushy moments that you may remember for the rest of your life. Everyone’s experience is different but when first love starts dying, the pain is universal.
Like Crazy, Drake Doremus’ surprise Sundance hit, is both a complicated and oversimplified account of one young couple’s relationship.
Anne (Felicity Jones) falls in love with Jacob (Anton Yelchin) in college. She’s a Brit who has ambitions of being a writer, and he is an American who makes furniture from scratch. The connection is instant, and they don’t waste any time giddily making out around Los Angeles.
After graduation Anne is supposed to leave the country for the summer, but she makes the impulsive decision to stay. She gets three months with her boyfriend, only to get banned from America for overstaying her visa. Like Crazy focuses mainly on the pair’s separation over the course of several years, and the struggle to sustain their love through text messages and fading memories.
The stress from the situation makes them bicker, and the transitions are as sporadic as their commitment to each other. The film jumps around months at a time, from reconciliations to break-ups. They are whiny when apart, but turn suspicious and doubtful when they are together.
The real depth of the film comes from the common couple fights we’ve watched unfold in our own lives. There’s some chemistry between the two leads, but it’s not these underdeveloped characters that you’re invested in. The real reason this movie would resonate with you has more to do with how much you can relate to the circumstances that they are put in.
You’ve probably gone through a failed early relationship. If you desperately wanted it to work out back then, then you still root for first love’s success now. With improvised dialogue and natural delivery, the actors effectively convey how illogical and devastating the on-again/off-again dance is.
That’s where the movie succeeds—in getting the audience to feel for the romantic mishaps they’ve experienced dozens of times over.
Like Crazy opens Friday, October 28, 2011
