Like Crazy Directed by: Drake Doremus Starring: Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence Rating: PG-13 Release Date: October 28, 2011

TRAILER SCORE: 8/10

Thoughts by TSR: Earlier this month a shorter trailer for this film was released. Oddly, almost all of the dialogue was imperceptible. Despite not being able to hear what the actors were saying, I was intrigued by what I saw. Luckily that trailer was fixed and a working version released. Between the praise the film received at the Sundance Film Festival and the strong first trailer, it was guaranteed I would be checking this one out. This second trailer dives a bit deeper into the story and helps secure Like Crazy as a must see film of the fall.

I’m a bit of a sucker for bittersweet romances and this film looks to be right up my alley. The sweet, everyday activities we see the couple doing while together work well, but where the trailer really shines is after they are forced apart. Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones, who play the couple, both look strong. Yelchin isn’t an actor I’ve ever had much of an opinion about, but he looks great here. Felicity Jones, who received raves at Sundance, is an actress I’m unfamiliar with. If this trailer proves true, however, I imagine that will be changed soon. There are a handful of shots of each of them alone and the looks on their faces are heartbreaking. In the context of the film, when hopefully we are made to care about these two, these emotions should be even more powerful. It’s not just the performances of Yelchin and Jones that I find striking about the trailer. The look of the film, the music used, and particularly the editing are all spot-on as well. My favorite part is the quickly edited overhead shot of the two of them sleeping that ends with Yelchin in bed alone. I think that sequence really captures the bittersweet feeling and I can’t wait to see more.

Even before it took the Grand Jury Prize for Best Picture at Sundance I had heard a lot of good things about the film. It would be unfair to judge the final product before I actually get a chance to see Like Crazy, but everything I’ve seen leads me to believe the praise is entirely justified.