Starring: Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Christina Applegate Director: Nanette Burstein Category: IIB
Midway through Nanette Burstein's film about the pitfalls of long-distance relationships, the film's male protagonist, Garrett (Justin Long), is taken to task by his girlfriend Erin's (Drew Barrymore, right) two brothers-in-law. They view with suspicion - or even anger - how Garrett's efforts to romance Erin are showing them up as emotional deadweights. Just you wait until you become entangled in a committed relationship, they say, and his fun and novelty will quickly be replaced by doom and gloom - a more than adequate summary of Going the Distance.
Documentary maker Burstein's first foray into a fictional feature is a film of two parts with distinct styles setting them apart. The first half is, as Garrett's detractors would say, bubbling with wit and joy, as Burstein establishes the bond between Garrett and Erin through their strange connections (bonding over 1980s arcade games, films and music), barbed and sometimes coarse humour, sex - of the real and phone types - and stylised imagery (animations and split-screens).
The fun stops when the pair struggles with harsh realities after Erin, an intern at a New York newspaper, leaves Garrett, an indie-rock lover forced to promote inane pop bands in his A&R job, and returns home to San Francisco. The long-distance relationship begins to crack, especially when their professional fortunes fluctuate as well. It's here that the film slides slowly into predictable territory. Rows and retributions seep in to make things worse - before they get, well, better. While Barrymore and Long - reportedly a real-life couple - show chemistry, the film could have used a more audacious (and realistic) take on such relationships. As it stands now, it pales against post-modern romances such as (500) Days of Summer.
Going the Distance opens today