Going The Distance
Director: Nanette Burstein
Despite being continually mocked there is a reason romantic comedies remain popular. Yes, sometimes it’d good to be intellectually challenged, to read subtitles, to see outstanding emotional performances.
Other times, you just want to see a passed out Drew Barrymore getting whiskers drawn on her face in permanent marker. What can I say? I’m easily amused.
Funny woman Barrymore is joined by real life boyfriend Justin Long and Christina Applegate in this rom-com, chick flick, cliché film Going The Distance. Barrymore plays Erin, a wannabe journalist on an internship in New York. Erin meets Garret (Long) in a bar and the pair decides to date casually for the remainder of Erin’s time in New York.
Predictably, when the time comes for the pair to separate they realise they are in love and decide to continue the relationship long distance. Mishaps occur (did you really expect smooth flying?) and the plot line continues to be predictable but, surprisingly, hilarious.
For a real life couple Long and Barrymore’s chemistry is disappointingly only average. Likewise, Long is utterly forgettable, even when given a perfect situation he just fails to be funny. Long’s bro-mances with his goof ball mates Dan and Will are far more entertaining than his interaction with Barrymore. Garret and Dan’s flatmate policies are a highlight, in particular their open door bathroom policy.
Barrymore is consistently sparkling and funny, but her performance here was only so-so. She was more than a little overshadowed by the perfectly cast Christina Applegate who plays Barrymore’s older sister. She plays the cleaning obsessed mom in a side-splittingly funny, yet naturaland believable, way.
It is the sub plot storylines that give Going The Distance that something extra. It makes a nice change in a rom-com for the side relationships to be both well written and well acted - instead of mere time fillers between the kissing and fighting and making up of the leading duo. Going The Distance is a film you know will entertain you, no doubt about it. Sometimes it’s good to be predictable.
Amanda Haxton