'GOING THE DISTANCE': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
Surprisingly funny rom-com with the odd pairing of Justin Long and Drew Barrymore as the romantic leads. While the chemistry doesn't work between the film's two heroes, and Barrymore is just flat out wrongfully cast in this movie, the rest of the film does oddly work. I had almost no desire to see it but watched it out of curiosity anyway (as a free Netflix rental) and was pretty pleasantly surprised. The movie is witty and funny thanks to a clever script (by first time writer Geoffe La Tullippe) and a great supporting cast including Charlie Day (of 'IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA' fame), Jason Sudeikis (of 'SNL' fame), Jim Gaffigan, Rob Riggle, Ron Livingston and Christina Applegate. The film is also nicely directed by Nanette Burstein (who's only previous directing credits are documentary films like 'THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE', 'ON THE ROPES' and 'AMERICAN TEEN').
Long plays a record company executive in New York named Garrett who was recently dumped by his girlfriend. Barrymore plays a journalism student from Stanford named Erin who's on a summer internship for a daily newspaper in New York. The two meet at a bar, hit it off and decide to start casually dating (knowing that she's leaving soon). They of course fall for each other and their relationship builds into a painful long distance one with each turning to family and loved ones for advice. Garrett's advice comes from his buddies (Day and Sudeikis) who haven't a clue what they're talking about, which is the funniest part of the film. Erin's advice comes from her sister (Applegate). They're relationship is seriously put to the test because of this.
The film is laugh out loud funny for almost it's entirety. The jokes are well written and improvised (I'm sure). The film has a lot of likable and enjoyable energy and the cast is all outstanding, with the exception of Barrymore (in my opinion). I'm not her biggest fan and I especially don't think she's good in this movie. There's so many other better actresses that could have done so much more with the role. Plus, like I said, she's a bad match for Long. Long could have even been better cast. The supporting cast, writing and directing are all so much better than it's two leads, especially Barrymore. This hurts the movie and probably it's advertising, which I'm sure is why it bombed at the box office. Definitely not a bad comedic film, could have been better though.
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j95Zjdlcbe0
Surprisingly funny rom-com with the odd pairing of Justin Long and Drew Barrymore as the romantic leads. While the chemistry doesn't work between the film's two heroes, and Barrymore is just flat out wrongfully cast in this movie, the rest of the film does oddly work. I had almost no desire to see it but watched it out of curiosity anyway (as a free Netflix rental) and was pretty pleasantly surprised. The movie is witty and funny thanks to a clever script (by first time writer Geoffe La Tullippe) and a great supporting cast including Charlie Day (of 'IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA' fame), Jason Sudeikis (of 'SNL' fame), Jim Gaffigan, Rob Riggle, Ron Livingston and Christina Applegate. The film is also nicely directed by Nanette Burstein (who's only previous directing credits are documentary films like 'THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE', 'ON THE ROPES' and 'AMERICAN TEEN').
Long plays a record company executive in New York named Garrett who was recently dumped by his girlfriend. Barrymore plays a journalism student from Stanford named Erin who's on a summer internship for a daily newspaper in New York. The two meet at a bar, hit it off and decide to start casually dating (knowing that she's leaving soon). They of course fall for each other and their relationship builds into a painful long distance one with each turning to family and loved ones for advice. Garrett's advice comes from his buddies (Day and Sudeikis) who haven't a clue what they're talking about, which is the funniest part of the film. Erin's advice comes from her sister (Applegate). They're relationship is seriously put to the test because of this.
The film is laugh out loud funny for almost it's entirety. The jokes are well written and improvised (I'm sure). The film has a lot of likable and enjoyable energy and the cast is all outstanding, with the exception of Barrymore (in my opinion). I'm not her biggest fan and I especially don't think she's good in this movie. There's so many other better actresses that could have done so much more with the role. Plus, like I said, she's a bad match for Long. Long could have even been better cast. The supporting cast, writing and directing are all so much better than it's two leads, especially Barrymore. This hurts the movie and probably it's advertising, which I'm sure is why it bombed at the box office. Definitely not a bad comedic film, could have been better though.
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j95Zjdlcbe0