Movie Summary of Going The Distance by Michael The Moviegoer.
GOING THE DISTANCE = **1/2
“It’s Not A Small World”
Anyone who’s been living in a city where movie advertising is everywhere from buildings to buses has seen the ads for the new Drew Barrymore romantic comedy “Going The Distance”. On a billboard, it certainly looks like it could be a good movie. So I was greatly anticipating the advertised August 27 release date. But August 27 arrived and the movie was nowhere to be found. Not on a single screen.
Instead the movie quietly arrives one week late. I smell last-minute focus group tampering. It’s too bad, because I would much rather see the version of this film that was meant to arrive last week. This week’s version seems to come without an ending.
I can only guess as to what was altered in the eleventh hour. For a romantic comedy, the concept of a long-distance relationship is tricky. In reality, they rarely work out. But in big star-driven romantic comedies, they must work out.
It might be possible to explore genuine issues that long-distance couples face, but this isn’t that film. This is a raunchy sex comedy with a lot of explicit and very frank dialogue intended to shock and stun ala Judd Apatow.
There are a handful of truly fun moments, but the careers of these characters keep getting in the way of all potential logic. Barrymore and Justin Long are the geographically challenged couple. She wants to be a newspaper reporter. He’s a music business A&R executive at an un-named record company. The screenwriter is oblivious to the fact that both of these industries are on the verge of becoming extinct. The internet is threatening both the print media and music sales. Over the past couple of years, record label offices have begun to resemble ghost towns. Yet Long’s label feels like Grand Central Station at rush hour.
Also, Long is an A&R executive based in New York when the music capital of America is currently Los Angeles. But Barrymore is in California so the movie can’t work that way. Shouldn’t his company pay for his trips to California? For the purpose of this movie let’s just create a fantasy of the music business. One where an A&R executive can sign and work with artists even while spending all his time frolicking with his girlfriend on a beach in what seems like an endless parade of rom-com montage cliches.
“Going The Distance” goes nowhere very fast. It’s life in the fast lane on a dead-end highway.
DVD Double Feature:
Although they share no scenes together, Drew Barrymore and Justin Long were both wonderful as part of an ensemble cast in one of the best and smartest romantic comedies to come out in recent years, “He’s Just Not That Into You”.
Michael The Moviegoer
| Going the Distance |
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Overall Rating: |
| Retail Price: $14.98 |
| Amazon Price: $4.49 |
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Going the Distance reminded me of Garden State in that it tried to be funny, but ended up being just..well…immature and a little annoying instead. I normally like both these actors, but not here – My sister pointed out that Long’s character was incredibly selfish, which definitely is true and that added to the fact that the whole plot seemed unnecessary! I felt like just saying “grow up, and make a decision either way”.
I’m not sure why I found the film annoying. I knew, before going to see it, that it probably wasn’t going to be overflowing with depth – What I had expected was some amusement instead, or at least some characters who acted like adults. To sum up, I suppose the main feeling I had when watching it was boredom