The Nevada Sagebrush

Drew Barrymore and Justin Long star as a couple embarking on a long-distance relationship in “Going the Distance.” Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema.

Off-screen couple Drew Barrymore and Justin Long team up onscreen for “Going the Distance,” a film that starts out as a refreshingly funny and honest take on long-distance relationships. While the film starts out with a hilarious bang, much like the relationship between the two main characters, it eventually begins to go downhill.

“Going the Distance,” directed by Nanette Burstein (“American Teen”), centers around Erin (Barrymore), an up-and-coming journalist who is temporarily interning for a paper in New York City and Garrett (Long), a local who works for a record company. What begins as an awkward meeting at a bar and a one-night stand flourishes into a long-distance relationship, with Erin living in San Francisco and Garrett remaining in New York. The two struggle to keep the flame between them ignited, as does this film, which had a strong start, but slowly and painfully burned out by the halfway point.

This movie is much like “(500) Days of Summer,” which is touted as being one of the best romantic comedies of the decade, in that the relationship between the two main characters is rather true to life. Like relationships based in reality, Erin and Garrett’s time together is filled with ups and downs and is not played out as some cliché fairytale that Hollywood writers and producers are notorious for creating.

“Going the Distance” features scenes that are not only funny, but unfortunately relatable for many couples as well, such as phone sex gone terribly wrong or awkward walk-ins. There are more moments in this film that will have viewers nodding their heads while shamefully agreeing, rather than eye-rolling so hard at sickly sweet romance scenes that a migraine ensues, which is more than can be said for most romantic comedies.

Unlike most romantic comedies that I unfortunately sat through, resulting in wasting precious moments of my life that I will never get back (basically any film with Kate Hudson in it), “Going the Distance”  was enjoyable and funny — for the first half, that is. The movie seems to be a hybrid between a chick flick and any Judd Apatow film, which is great for those of us who can appreciate some ridiculous, yet hilarious bathroom humor.

While I appreciate penis jokes just as much as any other gal out there, the problem was that the characters delivering the lines, Garrett’s friends brilliantly played by Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis, and Erin’s sister, played by Christina Applegate, basically stole the whole movie with their funny one-liners. These characters were more entertaining to watch than stars Long and Barrymore. Everytime these comedic relief delivering characters left the screen, it felt like torture having to watch Erin and Garrett continue pouting about their bicoastal relationship.

Barrymore and Long start this film out with such a punch, Barrymore with her excellent charisma and onscreen presence and Long, with his charming awkwardness (not the eye-roll inducing Michael Cera type), so it was sad to see it slowdown and fizzle out so fast. The problem lies in the storyline.

No matter how palpable the onscreen chemistry was between real life couple Barrymore and Long, and no matter how true to life their often awkward encounters were, it does not change the fact that the script and film itself was too slow. It took entirely too long for the characters to arc, so the constant literal and figurative back and forth between Erin and Garrett essentially just dragged this film down. While real-life relationships may be constantly back and forth and even bicoastal, it is not enjoyable to watch for almost 100 minutes on the big screen.

Even though “Going the Distance” fell flat by the midpoint, there were other aspects of the film that made up for its snail-like pace. The cinematography is beautiful. Burstein did an amazing job of capturing the grit and beauty of both New York City and San Francisco with striking overhead shots of the two booming cities.

The soundtrack adds a great feel to “Going the Distance.” It features a flawless mixture of both ‘80s rock and current day indie rock from artists such as, Cat Power, Passion Pit, The Cure and The Boxer Rebellion, which is a band that is featured in the plot of the film.

While “Going the Distance” won’t be winning an Oscar, it was still a funny and pleasant film that is sure to bring a few laughs, but not from the two main characters. The greatness, which is the first 45 minutes of this movie, makes it worth the watch. Just be sure to have a coffee or Red Bull in hand to make it through the boring second half if you do plan on seeing it.

‘Going the Distance’

Release Date: Sept. 3

Director: Nanette Burstein

Starring: Drew Barrymore, Justin Long and Christina Applegate

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Rating: R for sexual content, language throughout, some drug use and brief nudity.

Grade: C

Enjolie Esteve can be reached at eesteve@nevadasagebrush.com.

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