Long Distance Craziness
Having gone to America to study at an L.A. university Anna (Felicity Jones) meets and falls for fellow student Jacob (Anton Yelchin). They are soon head over heals in love but as graduation approaches Anna stays on, in doing so violating her student visa. But it means when Anna eventually heads to England for a visit she finds herself unable to return to Jacob in the United States. Now Anna and Jacob must not only try to fight the system so that they can be together but decide whether what they have is not just worth it but also strong enough to survive all the stresses and strains of being apart.
This is the second time in just two days where I find myself asking whether I really care about the characters in the movie and frankly whilst Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones certainly have an appeal I really didn't care for their characters. And that is where "Like Crazy" first falls down because it never really connects the audience with the characters in a real way so the end result is that when Anna and Jacob end up forced apart it doesn't do enough to make us not just feel for them but feel their own pain of being apart.
What also doesn't help me is that on top of this almost character ambiguity "Like Crazy" also has that modern indie feel, the almost low budget, floaty camera, minimilistic feel which in fairness some people enjoy, I tend not to. It means that at times there are parts of "Like Crazy" which just drag on, trying to be cool by being real in that indie sort of way but only ending up quite dull by doing so.
What this all boils down to is that in fairness "Like Crazy" does an interesting job of covering the complexities and emotions of a long distance relationship. But it is a movie which has a very distinct, almost indie style which you will either like or it will drive you crazy.
