I know I'm a glutton for punishment, but I'm constantly looking for another romantic comedy I'll enjoy. Drew Barrymore has starred in several of my favorites -
Never Been Kissed in particular. So I figured
Going the Distance couldn't be that bad. Unfortunately, it's not the newest favorite of mine. Art is mirroring life with Justin Long and Drew Barrymore getting together. They meet during Barrymore's internship in NYC (yes, they mock the idea that someone her age would be doing an internship) but decide to try to stay together after she has to return to the West Coast to finish school. They attempt to maintain their relationship long-distance, travelling back and forth, and attempting to use the phone to maintain some physical intimacy. But you can see how this is going to go from the first moment they get together - and usually the journey is the interesting part of this kind of a story, but sadly, not this time. There are some interesting supporting characters - Charlie Day is Long's roommate and DJ on romantic evenings, Jason Sudeikis is a friend who comments on his life, and Christina Applegate is Barrymore's hyper-OCD sister. They're both funny and over the top in their roles, but doesn't make the film a lot better. Overall, just a really, really generic long-distance relationship movie that tries to be a little raunchy and kind of funny, but not much more.
Hi Jess, I too am a bit of rom-com fan and I tend to judge them with one simple rule "Do I want the couple to be together at the end'. In this case I certainly did. I really liked the chemistry between Long and Barrymore and was certainly rooting for them come the final third.
ReplyDeleteHowever where I felt it fell down were the scenes in LA with Barrymore's family. The interaction felt forced (which I guess it was supposed to be), but everyone felt too wooden. The whole statue thing really started to bother me and the final scene in particular was poor in this regard. Saying that it was great to see Christina Applegate back in something again and Long's friends were funny, especially the Dj scene.
All in all I would have probably given in one more star than you.