Like Crazy (2011)

Jack and I liked very much this sweet love story between American and British college students that quickly gets complicated by visa issues. Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic) as well as a Grand Jury Prize for Felicity Jones it also boasts the growing talent of co-star Anton Yelchin (after I wrote about him in Star Trek he was in The Beaver). Coincidentally Jennifer Lawrence (last covered in X Men: First Class) co-starred with Yelchin in The Beaver and has a part in this as well. I wrote about Jones in Chéri, and she earns her accolades here. Director/co-writer Drake Doremus is getting lots of love for this and has another project in the works. His co-writer Ben York Jones, who worked with him on Douchebag (2010) (I didn't see it but just had to put in the title) has a small part. Look at his picture and you will recognize him when you see it or if you have.

Composer Dustin O'Halloran's name was familiar to me because I bought the soundtrack to Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006), which had a mixture of classical piano solos by O'Halloran and some 1980s pop ditties. He likes to call his songs Opus this number and that number and I thought there was overlap until I examined the numerology. If you're a myspace member (or maybe if you're not) you can stream some of the opi (opuses?) from this link. Here's another one (with strings added) that is definitely from the movie. In another coincidence, the music of Paul Simon is a part of the lovers' relationship and we saw the movie within the same week of seeing Simon live. Only one of his songs is in the official soundtrack (the streaming link on that page is broken, sorry), but quite a few more are in the movie, including Graceland.

This is playing in only 109 theatres right now (Tower Heist is in 2942 and Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 is first with 4061) but may go wider, since its rating is 74% critics/70% audiences on rottentomatoes. On the other hand, it will translate well to the small screen if you must wait. It is a delightful little movie about first love and we recommend it.