Dvd
Going the Distance
Real-life couple Drew Barrymore and Justin Long star in this romantic-comedy about the tribulations of a long-distance relationship.
Erin (Barrymore) and newly single Garrett (Long) charm one another one night over beer and bar trivia and so begins a full-fledged summer fling. But, as they always knew, it comes to end when Erin heads home to San Francisco and Garrett stays put in New York for his job. The six weeks of romping has inadvertently become meaningful though, and neither are sure they want it to end. Despite the opposite coasts, with the help of a lot of texting, sexting and late-night phone calls they might be able to make it work and find a little love.
This is the feature debut from Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Nanette Burstein (The Kid Says in the Picture).
Starring Christina Applegate, Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Ron Livingston, Kelli Garner, Charlie Day
Directed by Nanette Burstein ('American Teen', 'The Kid Stays in the Picture')
Written by Geoff LaTulippe
Romantic Comedy | 1hr 42mins | Rated (R16) | Contains Drug Use, Sex Scenes & Offensive Language | Origin: USA | Official Site »
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Flicks review
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2
The rom-com is in a pretty sorry state at the moment. It's tempting to place all the blame squarely at Katherine Heigl's feet, but she's only part of the problem. Going The Distance should be commended for at least attempting to do something a bit different, but it ultimately fails to distinguish itself in any significant way.
Instead of a nefarious love rival, a ridiculous misunderstanding or a secret identity, the main hurdle facing the two main characters here is an actual real-world problem – they live in different cities.
It often seems like rom-coms rely far too much on crazy contrivances to keep our couple apart, instead of focusing on issues that affect actual relationships. So while it's great that Going The Distance attempts to address this, the movie is so lifeless at times, I found myself actually missing the crazy contrivances.
Justin Long is a very watchable character actor who's developed into a nicely offbeat leading man, but his character here is strangely unlikable. Barrymore (Long's real-life on-again, off-again girlfriend) is her usual endearing self, but a lot of their supposed comedic set-pieces evokes the sensation of witnessing a couple who think everything the other person does is superlatively amusing, but are insufferable to all around them.
Going The Distance feels like too nice of a movie to rag on, but I really struggled to get much out of this. It's not painful to sit through, and the interesting supporting cast gets a few nice moments, but this is simply too meagre to recommend.SHARE:
The people's reviews
5 reviews
Press Reviews
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Christchurch Press (Margaret Agnew)
2
Art imitates life in this movie, or at least, the audience would be forgiven for assuming so.
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Empire (UK)
3
If it is at times a bit indie-by-numbers without the courage of all its convictions, this is a grittier, saltier than usual rom-com populated with laughs, smarts and a couple you can root for.
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Hollywood Reporter
Going the Distance is, in a way, a remarkable film: It's hard to imagine any romantic comedy going wrong in so many different ways.
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NZ Herald (Francesca Rudkin)
3
Raunchy, but still sweet and charming light entertainment.
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Total Film (UK)
2
Barrymore and Long make a cute couple, but between the overindulged supporting cast, second-hand situations and efforts to be ‘adult’, there are just too many obstacles.
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Urban Cinefile (Australia)
Be prepared to be underwhelmed by this contrived romantic comedy that falls as flat as the dining room table on which Drew Barrymore and Justin Long make out...
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Variety (USA)
This uneven effort saddles its likable leads, Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, with the kind of verbally exaggerated sexual humor that not only comes off as embarrassingly strained and calculated, but also compromises what the picture genuinely wants to be.
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