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Like Crazy (DQ)

3/10

Stars: Felicity Jones, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence, Alex Kingston, Charlie Bewley, Chris Messina, Finola Hughes

Director: Drake Doremus

I've admired the previous work of America's Anton Yelchin and Britain's Felicity Jones, but they're on to a loser here, with this very twee romance. The two leading characters never convince you that they were meant for each other (as subsequent events prove), but it would have been nice to believe in their affair for at least half the film.

Jacob (Yeltchin) and Anna (Jones) meet cute at college but, after an idyllic summer, she cannot bear to return home, and overstays her visa, something that presents endless complications even when they marry, by which time both their ardours, his especially, have begin to cool.

The ending is bleak but without impact, since we have never been drawn to these characters in the first place. The hand-held camerawork doesn't exactly help rivet us to the romance, either, but the root cause of the film's failure is, of course, the script, even conceding that much of the movie was improvised, rarely a good idea.

'Aaah,' says Anna to aspiring carpenter Jacob as he gives her a chair, 'that's your first one.' Not even the appealing Jones can prevent us wincing at dialogue like that. The film is shortish, but doesn't feel it.

David Quinlan

USA 2011. UK Distributor: Paramount (Paramount Vantage). Colour by deluxe.
89 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 23 Jan 2012