All romantic comedies have something in common and go through the same routine. All of these movies are about love, but the difference is in how the story about love is told and the actors you get to tell it. Director Nanette Burstein has a semi-interesting plot, but got it almost perfect when it came to her cast. Going the Distance, while good, really rests on the undeniable chemistry between Justin Long and Drew Barrymore.
Erin (Barrymore) meets Garrett (Long) at a bar in Chicago and they really hit it off. But Erin is only there for 6 more weeks and once her internship at a newspaper is up, she is going back to Los Angeles. So they decide to live it up while she is in town and have fun while they still can. But who would have thought that they would have ended up really liking each other, right? At the airport, Erin and Garrett decide their love is too strong and want to take it as far as it can go so they begin a long distance relationship. The rest of the movie is about the wear and tear of having a long distance relationship and trying desperately to make it work. This includes traveling back and forth and having phone sex.
Perhaps it is because Barrymore and Long are a real-life couple, but their relationship feels real and you could really see them being together. Their humor compliments each other and they just have that likability factor going for them. And most of us have been in love with Barrymore for a long time. She just seems so happy all the time. Christina Applegate plays Barrymore’s sister and Jim Gaffigan is her sister’s husband, and they have their moments in the movie. Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis play Long’s best friends and the conversations these guys have will not be soon forgotten. The first time they are all talking, the convo gets pretty strange, but very funny.
Going the Distance is rated R for a reason. It gets vulgar and the cursing just becomes such a habit and kind of gets out of hand after a while. This movie is not your Never Been Kissed or 50 First Dates. No matter how adorable Long and Barrymore appear to be, the movie does suffer from being too long and getting too repetitive. After they travel a few times back and forth, I think we get it. But they keep doing it over and over, and we know how each visit is going to go. The interest in the movie begins to fade after about 45 minutes in to it.
Going the Distance has a lot going for it with a talented and funny cast and two pitch-perfect leads, but the story runs thin and predictable after a little bit. When there is not much substance, this puts more responsibility on the actors. It is up to them to keep us engaged and interested for over an hour and forty minutes. It is a tough job though they do succeed…but just barely.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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