New Release Review - Like Crazy

Directed by: Drake Doremus
Starring: Felicity Jones, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence, Alex Kingston

It's very annoying watching a terrible film made by talented people but it can be a whole lot of fun watching something like this, a terrible film made by untalented people.

I had to check the age of the director and found he's twenty-eight, young for a director, but his film looks like it was made by a seventeen year old.
Usually when a drama is bad it's just plain bad but occasionally you get one that's so inept it's a joy to watch. The first mistake Doremus makes is in allowing his cast to improvise their dialogue. There's only one situation where this should be encouraged and that's when working with comedians. That's because comedians, even bad ones, are usually clever people and most have a background in improv. Expecting twenty-something actors to come up with great dialogue is pretty naive and some of the verbal excrement heard here will have you creased over with laughter.
The movie is set between London and Los Angeles and in the world of Doremus these two cities share the same time-zone. Yelchin is frequently seen boozing in LA as is Jones in London, at the same time. Despite an eight hour time difference it somehow always manages to be just as dark in L.A as it is in London.
If you want the audience to fall for your heroine, which should be quite easy given how beautiful Jones is, don't have her character behave like a psychopath. The first ten minutes had me wondering if this was going to be a teen remake of "Fatal Attraction". There's a hilarious scene where after saying goodbye to Yelchin at the airport, Jones stands motionless while crowds rush past in sped up time-lapse. Yes, just like that crazy bitch in "Paranormal Activity"!
I could go on and on but I just need to mention Doremus' bizarre use of props. At one point Jones' neighbour returns an item he previously borrowed. Some coffee? A torch maybe? Perhaps a screwdriver? No, it's a George Foreman Mini-Grill! I hope they release a director's cut so we get to see how he came to borrow this. "Excuse me, I was just about to cook some burgers when I realised I don't have a grill!" "No problem, you can borrow my lean mean fat grilling machine!" Oh and the title comes from the name of a chair that Yelchin makes for Jones. Yes, a chair! You see, despite looking about sixteen, Yelchin has his own successful carpentry business and nothing says "I Love You" like hand-crafted furniture!

Doremus is completely devoid of talent but like Ed Wood he's got a lot of heart and it makes me feel good knowing people like this are getting a chance. He's not intentionally insulting his audience, he just doesn't know any better. His IMDB page lists a forthcoming "Untitled Drake Doremus Project", and this should give hope to us all.
6/10

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