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Garrett (Justin Long) meets Erin (Drew Barrymore) in a bar in “Going the Distance,” a romance about faraway lovers. |
Erin and Garrett have been separated for too long while working in different cities, so they decide to indulge in some phone sex.
But after thrashing out the embellished details of their fantasized tryst – car vs. elevator? – the two long-distance lovers finally cave to frustration.
“This isn’t really working!” Erin confesses.
Neither is “Going the Distance,” a romantic comedy surprisingly light on romance and fun, but heavy on the sort of randy vulgarity that falls way short of riotous humor.
Documentary film director Nanette “American Teen” Burstein directed “Going the Distance,” and she follows the formula of producer/director Judd Apatow in his string of successful comedies (“Superbad,” “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” plus others).
Her movie proves it’s not all that easy to duplicate Apatow’s ability to find the right balance between empathetic characters and wince-inducing, gross-out gags.
Garrett (Justin Long) meets Erin (Drew Barrymore) at a video game in a New York bar soon after being dumped by his girlfriend. They chat. They flirt. They bond.
He works as an assistant in a record company. She serves as an intern with the fictional New York Sentinel newspaper.
With Erin scheduled to jet back to her San Francisco home in two weeks, Garrett proposes a long-distance relationship, and she accepts.
So, the couple embarks on a naive quest to date by Skype, until the impersonal grind takes its predictable toll on the two and forces them to reconsider their options. (Read more…)