Balancing crudeness and sweetness in an R-rated romantic comedy is no easy task: go too far in one direction and you have a funny movie with no heart; veer too far in the other and you have a pleasant film without any balls. The best examples of the genre-- There's Something About Mary, for instance--generally wind up with heaping helpings of “I can't believe that just happened” shock moments with just enough real emotion to make you root for the protagonists.
Going The Distance seems like it tries to have its cake and eat it, too: while there's a surprising amount of relatively crude banter and behavior, it's almost evenly balanced with the travails of Erin and Garrett, two star-crossed lovers who find themselves on either side of America, attempting to make their relationship work despite being 3,000 miles apart. As a real-life couple, Drew Barrymore and Justin Long have obvious chemistry as Erin and Garrett, but their romance is slightly overshadowed by the comedic ringers that have been cast around them.
Before you can be in a long-distance relationship, though, you have to be in a short-distance relationship first, and that's where the meet-cute comes in. After a couple of frustrating days at their respective jobs (Erin is still a newspaper intern at 31; Garrett works at a record label representing a boy band called 3Z, with a single called “I Heart You Crazy Mad”), the couple meet over video games at their local bar, where Garrett pulls an unbelievable douche move in front of a Centipede machine and is forced to make up for it with beers and some of that oh-so-lovely Justin Long sexiness. (If you have any desire to see Long naked, by the way, then buy your tickets now.)
Alas, complications arise as Erin is forced to return to San Francisco when her internship is up, and thus begins an awkward period of the pair attempting to keep in touch through text messages and video chat (I admit that I have sent girls this same kind of video myself) while only seeing each other once every few months. Sexless relationships have their own special quandaries, of course, not the least of which are having to deal with the skepticism of your friends. Erin's sister ( Christina Applegate) and brother-in-law ( Jim Gaffigan) want Erin to be happy, and don't necessarily think that's possible while Garret's living across the country, while Garrett's mates Box (SNL's Jason Sudeikis) and Dan ( It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia 's Charlie Day) are convinced that Erin is screwing half the population of Stanford, which leads to lines like “Next time you see her, you're not going to want to be kissing that blowjob factory she calls her mouth,” and discussions about whether or not one “pops”, “snaps”, or “cracks” one's dick during masturbation ensue (despite the presence of sweet old Jewish grandmothers within easy earshot). At times it comes off as re-heated Kevin Smith, but there are a surprising number of genuine laughs on hand.
I'll be honest: I had no clue this was even R-rated until people started repeating the f-word far too many times for it to be anything but, and that's even before Long's ass gets shown off for the second or third time. After a summer of relatively tame PG and PG-13 romcoms, though, it's kind of refreshing to see a movie take some risks with its material. And although the pair are a bit too white-bread to be believable as passionate lovers, Long and Barrymore are still just fun to watch bounce off each other in the film's lighter moments, especially early on when they begin dating in New York. While Long may never be more than "the Mac guy" to a broad swath of the population, he's eminently likable here, and Barrymore brings back some of the trademark charm that was curiously missing from her recent rom-com efforts like Fever Pitch and Music & Lyrics.
If the film has flaws, they mostly relate to its failure to find much of a rhythm: there's a definite three-act structure, but with the constant flights back and forth between the two cities, it's a bit difficult to consistently hit the high and low emotional points that are required of this kind of film. Also annoying are the lengthy scenes that feature a band called The Boxer Rebellion. I don't necessarily mind when characters wear band t-shirts in films or make passing mention to bands that they like, but for the filmmakers to go so far as to feature two separate concerts of The Boxer Rebellion and then to go on to make them a critical part of the narrative ventures too far into Magnolia territory for me (another movie that threw a musician directly at your head, whether you liked Aimee Mann or not).
While Going The Distance has the moments of cloying sweetness that all rom-coms are legally required to incorporate, the over-the-top humor and the excellent supporting cast are what put this film above the recent spate of so-so romantic films. Even if there is a bit of deus ex machina to bring us around to the requisite happy ending, this is still a movie where love scenes are set to music from Top Gun and Justin Long promises 20% of his dick to Barrymore's character after being seated at her restaurant. Maybe those kinds of touches were intended to make this a more guy-friendly entrant into what is traditionally a female-targeted genre, but hey: it worked.
Going The Distance seems like it tries to have its cake and eat it, too: while there's a surprising amount of relatively crude banter and behavior, it's almost evenly balanced with the travails of Erin and Garrett, two star-crossed lovers who find themselves on either side of America, attempting to make their relationship work despite being 3,000 miles apart. As a real-life couple, Drew Barrymore and Justin Long have obvious chemistry as Erin and Garrett, but their romance is slightly overshadowed by the comedic ringers that have been cast around them.
Alas, complications arise as Erin is forced to return to San Francisco when her internship is up, and thus begins an awkward period of the pair attempting to keep in touch through text messages and video chat (I admit that I have sent girls this same kind of video myself) while only seeing each other once every few months. Sexless relationships have their own special quandaries, of course, not the least of which are having to deal with the skepticism of your friends. Erin's sister ( Christina Applegate) and brother-in-law ( Jim Gaffigan) want Erin to be happy, and don't necessarily think that's possible while Garret's living across the country, while Garrett's mates Box (SNL's Jason Sudeikis) and Dan ( It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia 's Charlie Day) are convinced that Erin is screwing half the population of Stanford, which leads to lines like “Next time you see her, you're not going to want to be kissing that blowjob factory she calls her mouth,” and discussions about whether or not one “pops”, “snaps”, or “cracks” one's dick during masturbation ensue (despite the presence of sweet old Jewish grandmothers within easy earshot). At times it comes off as re-heated Kevin Smith, but there are a surprising number of genuine laughs on hand.
If the film has flaws, they mostly relate to its failure to find much of a rhythm: there's a definite three-act structure, but with the constant flights back and forth between the two cities, it's a bit difficult to consistently hit the high and low emotional points that are required of this kind of film. Also annoying are the lengthy scenes that feature a band called The Boxer Rebellion. I don't necessarily mind when characters wear band t-shirts in films or make passing mention to bands that they like, but for the filmmakers to go so far as to feature two separate concerts of The Boxer Rebellion and then to go on to make them a critical part of the narrative ventures too far into Magnolia territory for me (another movie that threw a musician directly at your head, whether you liked Aimee Mann or not).
While Going The Distance has the moments of cloying sweetness that all rom-coms are legally required to incorporate, the over-the-top humor and the excellent supporting cast are what put this film above the recent spate of so-so romantic films. Even if there is a bit of deus ex machina to bring us around to the requisite happy ending, this is still a movie where love scenes are set to music from Top Gun and Justin Long promises 20% of his dick to Barrymore's character after being seated at her restaurant. Maybe those kinds of touches were intended to make this a more guy-friendly entrant into what is traditionally a female-targeted genre, but hey: it worked.
