Trying to keep love alive in 'Like Crazy'

If sincerity alone were enough to recommend a movie, "Like Crazy" would deserve a four-star review. The story of young lovers separated by the Atlantic, it's a refreshingly unself-conscious romance, never once winking at the camera or twisting a finger in its own dimples. The movie wears its heart on its sleeve, but its central characters are so utterly vacuous that they barely seem to have hearts at all.

A mopey Anton Yelchin ("Star Trek") and Felicity Jones (an otherwise charming British newcomer) are Jacob and Anna, fresh-faced college classmates who strike up a relationship after she leaves a two-page mash note on his car. Things move quickly -- cue the montage -- but when Anna's visa expires, she's forced to leave Los Angeles for her native England. Abruptly, they're reduced to texting, voice mails and the occasional plane flight.

"Like Crazy" tracks their separate lives and monitors their weakening bond. Jacob endears himself to Anna's quirky parents (Alex Kingston and Oliver Muirhead), but Anna gets distracted by her handsome neighbor, Simon (an appealing Charlie Bewley). Back home, Jacob tides himself over with a doting co-worker, Samantha (Jennifer Lawrence). At its best, "Like Crazy" offers a poignant look at two people trying to tend a dying fire.

Director and co-writer Drake Doremus is brimming with tenderness, but his two lovebirds are vaguely drawn abstractions. She's a generic writer type (poet, magazine editor, whatever), while he's a furniture designer toting an ever-present sketchbook. Their first date, at a cafe, is filled with banalities ("These cups are huge," Jacob notes), but by the film's end their conversation has barely deepened ("I miss you").

It's hard to care about people who bicker, coo and weep but never say anything even mildly interesting. "Like Crazy" wants to be a tear-jerker, but there's little in it worth crying over.

PLOT A young couple tries to keep a trans-Atlantic love alive. RATING PG-13 (language, mild sexuality)

CAST Felicity Jones, Anton Yelchin

LENGTH 1:28

PLAYING AT Roosevelt Field 8, Garden City

BOTTOM LINE A sincere and well-intentioned romance, but too bad the central lovebirds are so utterly banal