Parents' Guide to

Like Crazy

By S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Moving look at the highs and lows of first grown-up love.

Movie PG-13 2011 99 minutes
Like Crazy Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 18+

Based on 1 parent review

T F.
T F. Adult
November 20, 2011
age 18+

Makes you think -- what makes love?

My mature 17 year old daughter went to this film with me, and when it was over she said "that was the ultimate hipster movie." While this movie may appear to be for kids, which I'm sure it does appeal to on some level, I actually think this movie is for adults. The 4th act (what you think about after the film) is actually quite adult. You get a flood of young-love memories. You see how different you are now with your decision making. The end of the film has much broader implications than the plot line. Do long-distance relationships kill the relationships? What is love made of? The movie was brilliantly made with $250,000 and shot with a 50-page outline and no script -- all improvised on plot line. But, the film is so well done. It won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance in 2011. I can't say this is the best film I've seen this year -- The Help and The Artist, so far, have been the most fulfilling films I've seen for award contention and personal enjoyment. But, this film does have a lot of honesty and makes you think about your past and present in ways that I didn't expect. The acting is also very physical, which makes it good acting -- something you'll enjoy.

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

A close-up look at first love, LIKE CRAZY follows a young couple -- British student Anna (Felicity Jones) and Jacob (Anton Yelchin), her American teaching assistant -- who fall madly for each other the year before they graduate from college in Los Angeles. Unable to tear herself away from him, Anna decides to stay after her visa runs out before finally going home to England for the rest of the summer. But when she eventually tries to come back to the States, she's refused at the border, throwing them into a long-distance relationship that's much more difficult to sustain and maintain. To add to the complications, her journalism career has begun auspiciously in London, and his fledgling L.A. furniture business is poised to take off. And there are other distractions. But they can't stay happily apart, either.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1):
Kids say (3):

If you feel like you've intruded into someone else's relationship while watching this Sundance sensation, you're not alone; it's that intimate, that true. Director-writer Drake Doremus and his writing partner shared extensive outlines with the actors but allowed them to improvise their own dialogue through an intense rehearsal period, lending the entire enterprise surprising authenticity -- and deeper heartbreak. Thanks to Jones and Yelchin's prodigious talents, it really does feel like watching two people fall in love -- and, given the hindrances that viewers are made acutely aware of from the onset, we ache knowing they're choosing a very cobbled, potentially treacherous path.

What LIKE CRAZY does very well is capture the feeling of your first grown-up romance: how full of possibility it seems, as well as the impossibility of it. And how we plunge in headlong anyway, because what other choices do we really have? The impulsivity of youth has consequences here, but they don't feel forced or affected. You may question the motivations of some of Anna's and Jacob's decisions -- a plot point revolving around how they conduct themselves when they're away from each other is particularly confusing -- but we don't question the characters themselves. For a movie like this to work, that's supremely important. We root for them despite our hard-won wisdom. Isn't that the way it is with a love like this?

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Anna's and Jacob's relationship. Is it a healthy one? How does it change over the course of a movie? Parents, talk to your teens about your own values when it comes to sex and relationships.

  • How does the movie depict sex? What about drinking? Are there realistic consequences for both?

Movie Details

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