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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Love at first sight. It’s illogical. It’s crazy. But it’s exactly what happens when Anna (Felicity Jones, The Tempest, Northanger Abbey) makes eye contact with Jacob (Anton Yelchin, Star Trek) during a college classroom speech at the beginning of the romantic drama Like Crazy.

Not long after that initial spark, they share coffee, a few smiles, some laughs, and subtle little glances of unmistakable attraction. A budding relationship soon blossoms into outright love, which sounds all neat and tidy. There’s always a complication and theirs is a doozy—she’s a British national in L.A. for only as long as her student visa will allow, while he’s a poor American.

Blinded by love, their immaturity floats to the top when Jacob relents to her pleas for them to stay in L.A. for part of the summer, even though it will violate her visa. This decision will eventually come to haunt them, as they discover the hard way that overstaying a visa is not the same thing as keeping a library book past its due date.

As time marches on, their on-again/off-again, long-distance relationship becomes a bore to watch. Jones helps to lessen the burden by infusing her character with a genuine sweetness and a touch of innocence to make her likable. She efficiently captures how crazy-in-love human beings can get. But it takes two to tango, and Yelchin would not last long on Dancing with the Stars.

In 2006, Yelchin appeared in an episode of Criminal Minds in which he played a troubled teen who started having fantasies of killing prostitutes. The extreme moodiness he uses to flesh out Jacob sometimes made me want to yell at Anna to run for her life. Illogical to be sure, but Yelchin brings nothing else to the screen and he’s overmatched by Jones’ abilities.

The pacing within Like Crazy is far from fluid, with too many stops and restarts. It gets to the point of being annoying rather than entertaining. Overall, the film could have been boiled down to an hour-long TV episode, and likely would have been better for it.

Academy Award nominee Jennifer Lawrence makes a welcome appearance, but her talent is wasted on a part any actress on this planet could have played.

 Ultimately, Like Crazy is an unfulfilling, unrewarding work of cinema. Think Twinkie without the white filling. Crazy, huh?

On a letter grade scale from “A” being excellent to “F” for failing, Like Crazy receives a C.

Like Crazy is rated PG-13 and has a running time of 90 minutes.

Now showing through December 15 @ 
Tivoli Cinemas
Westport Manor Square
4050 Pennsylvania, KCMO
Visit www.tivolikc.com, or call 913-383-7756 for more information. 

Glenwood Arts
9575 Metcalf
Overland Park, KS
Visit www.fineartsgroup.com or call 913-642-4404 for more information.

By Michael D. Smith

Indie Film Editor

Michael D. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri followed by a Master of Arts in history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Inspired by such critics as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, Michael started reviewing films in 1992 for College of the Ozarks's student-run newspaper. After returning to the Kansas City area in 1994, he continued film reviewing by writing for the Cass County Democrat Missourian in Harrisonville.

In 2000 Michael joined Sun Publications in Overland Park, Kansas where he served as its film critic and Arts and Entertainment Editor. During his tenure there, he was also the film critic for the "Fine Arts Radio Hour" and "Celebrity Scoop" radio shows on KXTR. After leaving the Sun in late 2002, he became the A&E writer for the Olathe News in Olathe, Kansas. He also worked as a freelance writer for The Squire in Leawood, Showcase Publishing in Lake Ozark, Missouri and the Kansas City Star.

Michael is currently a member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, a professional film critic organization established in 1966 by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser.