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Saturday, February 1, 2014

Going the Distance (2010) [R] ***



New Yorker Garrett (Justin Long) works for a music label, scouting and promoting new bands, but he's very unhappy because his boss (played by Ron Livingston) won't let him promote the bands he really likes. To make matters worse Garrett has just been dumped by his girlfriend. Hanging out with his pals Box and Dan at their favorite bar, Garrett connects with Erin (Drew Barrymore) while she's playing a videogame.

Unfortunately, Erin is only a summer intern at the New York Sentinel newspaper, and in the fall she's returning to the San Francisco Bay area where she lives with her sister Corinne (Christina Applegate) and her family, and back to Stanford to finish graduate school. Their summer together goes all too quickly, and Garrett and Erin are faced with the stress of a long-distance relationship. Garrett flies to S.F. visit her, and Erin flies to N.Y. to visit him but it just is not working.

Directed by documentary filmmaker Nanette Burstein, this romantic comedy feels, at times, like a chick flick, at times like a very raunchy buddy film, and at times like a drawn-out documentary, one that could have been cut by fifteen minutes with no loss. There is some funny dialogue, but nothing memorable, and there are a few genuine moments between the two lovers, but overall the chemistry between Long and Barrymore is nothing special. If you enjoy romantic comedies among thirty-something slacker New Yorkers, with lots of scenes of bachelor apartments and seedy bars, and with potty and simulated sex humor, this is probably a film you will enjoy. Otherwise, you'd might prefer to watch an episode or two of How I Met Your Mother 

Labels: comedy, romance   
Internet Movie Database    
Metacritic 51/100    
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=57, viewers=66)    
Blu-ray1    
Blu-ray2

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