Like Crazy - review

It looks as though the affair may soon be over. But Anna and Jacob cling on, even when the boy seems to find himself a new interest in Jennifer Lawrence's understanding fellow student.

Written and directed by Drake Doremus, Like Crazy - which won plaudits and a prize at the Sundance Film Festival - may well remind you of Richard Linklater's Before Sunset. But while it is just as cleverly directed it is more sharply scripted.

We are at liberty to think the parted lovers are very ordinary young people but that works well since Doremus and his two principals (particularly Jones) make the story seem very real and not just a concoction for its actors.

The two leads are aided by Alex Kingston and Oliver Muirhead as Anna's parents and Charlie Bewley as a London neighbour. Everything rings surprisingly true and, if Jones and Yelchin really did improvise some lines, they did so admirably.

The ending too is unlike Hollywood and sends us home wondering what will become of the pair. That is one sign of a good movie which, if not exactly a masterpiece, at least involves us throughout. Doremus treats young love neither over-romantically nor too cynically. He tells us that it's often an awkward business when circumstances muck things up.

Like Crazy