Like Crazy (film)

After watching The Parks of being a Wallflower, I was inspired to continue the trend of young love.  A friend recommended watching Like Crazy as a slight change of pace.  Despite falling into the young love category, it's was a darker and bittersweet tale. A sharp contrast to The Parks of Being a Wallflower.

Jacob

Like Crazy is about Jacob and Anna, two college students who find themselves falling head over heels for each other.  Anna is originally from England and is studying in the L.A. area.  Jacob and Anna begin a wonderful love affair.  In time, Anna has to head back to the U.K.  So madly in love, she stays past her visa time limit.  This seemingly innocent lapse of judgement follows the pair for the remainder of the film, as they struggle find a way to live with an ocean between them.  The love they first felt follows them everywhere they go and they struggle individually to find a way to live with such a huge part of themselves missing.

Good - Like Crazy was a tough film to watch.  By tough, I mean challenging, more so then being bad.    The love and adoration between Jacob and Anna is touching and charming.  At the beginning, the love they share gives you hope.  Seeing them struggle later to recapture that magic feels justified.  You are there with them when everything clicked in the beginning.  And you want them to get it back.  The challenge of the film is knowing how cruel reality can be.  Despite the effort, despite the patience, Jacob and Anna look to be on the losing side.  The reward of a fairy tale love just seems too far.
If this all sounds depressing, it is.  You have a heart! Watching Like Crazy was powerful in it's portrayal of blind young love meeting reality in head on.

Anna

Bad - It was tough to watch Like Crazy at times.  I felt there were a large number of scenes of seeing various couples just snuggling and general PDA.  I understand this was mostly likely to show the innocence and intimacy of the affection that was present.  Still, it got to be grating.  For a 90 minute movie, I feel about 20 minutes were scenes of Jacob and Anna being gushy, with no real dialouge or plot progression.  I hate that stuff in real life, so seeing it in a film that's meant to entertain was quite annoying.   Other then that, I can't find anything bad enough to write about.

Jennifer Lawrence shows up as Sam

Overall - I recommend this film but under certain conditions.  Don't expect to be uplifted after watching this film.  It doesn't have a happy ending, to say the least.  The way you listen to depressing music when you're down, Like Crazy is the film equivalent.  It is powerful but you need to make sure you handle this film responsibly.  3.5 out of 5 stars.

Similar To - The Pursuit of Happyness