By Luke Trimble
Staff Writer
As we have learned through many clichéd Hollywood romances, the game of love can prove to be quite frustrating. “Like Crazy” elaborates on relationships in a unique manner and shows audiences just how much hair can be yanked out whilst falling in love.
“Like Crazy” is a stark reminder that regardless of the Sundance Film Festival’s opinions, some movies just fail to entertain audiences, despite early acclaim.
Drake Doremus’ heartwarming new drama has the superficial feel of any prosaic love story, but unfortunately turns out to be yet another of Hollywood’s overdone romantic films.
The movie’s unconventional editing techniques and the nonlinear storyline will confuse audiences. In addition, unexplained jumps in time are rampant and are as equally innumerable as the cheesy one-liners.
The characters are one dimensional and border on the edge of forgettable, and the overall message has been played out far too many times. The concept of time seems to elude Doremus as the plot jumps constantly and without warning, leaving audiences to fill in the gaps themselves. To top things off, the nonlinear plot butchers even the simplest dialog between the characters.
Staying true to the simple formula of romantic stories, Jacob (Anton Telchin) meets Anna (Felicity Jones) and the two fall in love. Everything seems to be going perfectly for the across the pond lovers until Anna is banned from entering the United States because her visa expired.
While Anna becomes consumed with lifting the ban on her visa, she and Jacob must practice the dying art of patience in our present day world of instant messages and instant everything. This task proves to be extremely difficult and frustrating for the two who see little or nothing of each other for months.
Everything sounds better with a British accent, but the same does not hold true for unsavory stories. This series of unfortunate events is based loosely on Doremus’ personal mishaps, and one can only imagine the feelings of desperation he experienced while both writing and living it.
The single redeeming factor of the whole fiasco could certainly be found in the chemistry between the two young actors. Yelchin and Jones form a mildly convincing couple.
“Like Crazy” had a budget of only $250,000, which was clearly evident by the film’s lack of quality. These low budget movies are more often than not catagorized as indie. However, “Like Crazy” felt more like a student film because of its lack of creativity.
In films like “Like Crazy,” common sense is thrown out the window to remain “artsy.” One notable and almost laughable instance involves a lover’s spat between the two, where Doremus completely obstructs Jacob from the view of the camera by shooting him standing behind a refridgerator during the argument.
The film has the potential to be a heartwarming story, yet somehow morphs itself into a dull chick flick peppered with cliches.
“Like Crazy” proves that just because a film recieves the recognition of the festival circuit, it does not mean that the film is any good. The film is insufferably cute and precious and doesn’t do anything new for its genre.“Like Crazy” is rated PG-13 and is playing in select theaters.
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