Going the Distance Review

Half-decent romantic comedies seem few and far between these days. Recent pictures such as The Proposal, The Ugly Truth, Leap Year, Valentine’s Day, The Bounty Hunter and The Back-Up Plan have all been criticised with such derision as to beggar belief. Which is unfortunate, as there have been more than a few thoroughly enjoyable rom-coms over the years; take Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pretty Woman, Bridget Jones’ Diary and There’s Something about Mary for instance. The genre, like so many of its protagonists in their second acts, is going through a rough patch. Is Going the Distance the film to change this?

Erin (Drew Barrymore) and Garret (Justin Long) meet in New York and get together after a night of booze, marijuana and chicken wings and despite both having really awful names. Erin is in the city as a summer intern with a newspaper she desperately wants to write for and will be leaving for San Francisco in six weeks. As such, they decide to keep their fling casual but, of course, they fall in love and decide to maintain a long distance relationship.

Anyone who has been in a long distance relationship themselves will sympathise with the couple’s trials and tribulations as Barrymore and Long try to work around the singular difficulty of being in a close relationship with someone you are by no means physically close to. Apparently an on/off couple in real life, the leading actors are convincing in their roles both individually and together. Barrymore exudes charisma as always and Long is surprisingly watchable even when he’s not having wrenches hurled at his body. The supporting cast are also decent; Christina Applegate amuses as Barrymore’s intimidating older sister, as do funnymen Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day as Long’s best friends.

Nanette Burstein brings her previous work experience as a documentary film-maker into her first feature film, although the visual style is ultimately a little inconsistent. Apparently improvisation was also encouraged on set, but again, the results are hit and miss. There’s a lot of amusing dialogue, but few if any belly laughs. The film lacks punch lines – like Barrymore and Long’s ill-fated attempt at phone sex, there’s a lot of funny foreplay but no comedic climaxes. The dialogue is also occasionally somewhat stilted; as if the actors are not quite sure what to do with the freedom they’ve been given.

That said, I just about enjoyed the film despite its flaws. I imagine that the original script was initially written with slightly younger actors in the lead roles (Erin and Garret are in their early/mid—thirties) but the film works in spite of this – I could just about accept that Barrymore is still at university. In fact, that the characters are in their thirties adds to the weight of their decisions and how they affect each others’ lives, which was welcome.

The film felt like a reasonably refreshing change from what has become the rom-com norm – characters and situations are dealt with more seriously and intelligently than in recent fare and situations never become ludicrous or unbelievable. It only really lacks for a few more laughs. Going the Distance gets the rom just right, but really needs a lot more com.