Your tolerance for Like Crazy can probably be judged by your response to this question: do you think overstaying a visa is stupid or romantic?
I think it’s stupid. And I knew it was a key part of the plot going into it, because for once I had seen the trailer. But I was interested in the entire cast: Anton Yelchin was pretty adorable in the remake of Fright Night, Felicity Jones I had liked in the most recent film of The Tempest, and obviously I love Jennifer Lawrence & Alex Kingston because I am only human. So I gave it a chance, but…
It’s still stupid! It just is! It is very stressful for audience members who are friends with multiple binational couples! You don’t fuck around with the State Department! It is a bad idea! And it’s all the more irritating because of course the couple in question is straight and white and financially secure and basically oozing privilege. Which is why, I suppose, they think they can just disregard rules and remain consequence-free.
And yet, the damn thing kind of worked on me. It’s beautifully shot. There’s plenty of show-and-not-tell. The couple is young and stupid and in love, and I suppose most people have been there. I particularly liked the depiction of the passage of time, the realistic way in which they fell in and out of each other’s lives, and the perfect ending.
A perfect ending goes a long way with me. But overstaying a visa is still stupid.
wicked jaws 