I managed to get off work early tonight (as in not 2am) and took a little trip to my local dollar theater to see “Going The Distance,” the romantic comedy starring Justin Long and Drew Barrymore about a couple trying to make a long distance relationship work while he lives in New York and she lives in San Francisco. I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for a while, since I watched the trailer online. I’m a big fan of Justin Long in his comedy roles (just look at “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” and “The Sasquatch Gang for a couple of my favorite performances of his). Dude knows how to be funny and improvise like a beast. It seemed to me that this movie was going for the same audience that “500 Days of Summer” was going for, evenly aimed at the guys in the audience just as much as the chicks. I really enjoyed that movie, so I had high hopes for this one as well.
When I watched the trailer, two things stuck out. First, I saw that the movie was rated R, which, unfortunately, is not the norm for romantic comedies. It looked to me that they were going for something a little more along the lines of a Judd Apatow helmed romantic comedy, as opposed to the typical Kate Hudson crap that we’re all used to. The second thing I noticed was that Charlie Day (as in Charlie from “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”) was in the flick. Seeing as how I (along with everyone else in KREJ) am a die-hard Sunny fan, it should go without saying that this movie immediately became a huge priority on my “movies to see” list.
And boy, Charlie did not disappoint in the role of Long’s roommate/friend. He killed it, in my opinion. He was my favorite part of the whole movie. He was in the movie way more than I thought he would be. There were at least 6 or 7 parts in the movie where he really got to shine. I was really happy to see that, in a movie where a handful of really funny and talented people (like Rob Riggle and Kristen Schaal) were severely under-used. Jason Sudeikis did an okay job as Long’s other friend and coworker, but I felt like there wasn’t much more to his character than a funny moustache for the majority of the film (There was a running gag about him having a moustache to attract older ladies, who are reminiscent of the 70’s, where the moustache was king). There was, however, a nice piece of business involving moustaches later on in the movie, that I thought was a nice pay-off to the gag, but it really didn’t really involve Sudeikis’s character that much. Jim Gaffigan could’ve been used a little bit more, but he was still very funny in the role of Barrymore’s brother-in-law.
As far as the leads go, I thought they did what all good leads in a romantic comedy should do, sell the relationship aspect, and be funny. Both of them had several really funny parts. The relationship was believable, but they actually dated, so that part kinda doesn’t even count if you think about it. The one person that surprised me the most was Christina Applegate. I knew she could do comedy, but I’ve never seen her go quite so blue before. She cracked me up several times, and the relationship between her character and Gaffigan’s was a definitely a different one than I’ve seen before in this genre.
I do have to say that I was actually surprised by the writing in this movie. There were several scenes where I felt like the dialogue was pretty genuine. I have to say I’m a big fan of the “that’s how people really talk” writing style that some of my favorite writers like Kevin Smith employ, and I think they succeeded as far as believable dialogue goes. I was a bit surprised that I found scenes between just the female characters just as funny and dirty as some of the scenes with just the guys. I felt the dialogue was pretty evenly balanced in that respect. I also appreciated how the writer approached certain things that most rom-coms would overlook, such as the question of “how the hell do these two have enough money to travel back and forth so often?” Surprisingly, this is writer Geoff LaTulippe’s first produced script. I look forward to seeing what else he does in the future.
As far as the film’s direction goes, there were a few shots in the movie that I liked quite a bit. One scene in particular, during the point of the film where the couple is getting to know each other, is shot in a style very similar to a documentary (all of the director, Nanette Burstein’s previous works are documentaries). The thing I liked the least about the movie was whenever a character flew from one side of the country to the other, a large map comes up on screen with line and a little animated plane to show us how a person can get into a plane and fly from one place to another (which actually happens quite a lot in a movie about two people flying back and forth to see each other). I’d say this technique is highly overused in films, and we the audience know how air travel works. They could have found a different, more unique way of showing their travels.
But that’s a small complaint. I thought the film was pretty enjoyable overall. If you’re into movies like “500 Days of Summer” or any of the raunchier Judd Apatow produced rom-coms like “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and the likes, you’d probably enjoy this movie. If you’re as big a fan of “It’s Always Sunny” as I am, than this might be worth checking out with the appearance of Charlie Day alone. This is like the first widely released movie that he’s even been in since “Sunny” first premiered, and he’s pretty heavily featured, where as the other guys from the show, Glenn Howerton and Rob McElhenney, have been in a few things, but didn’t really get to do much, let alone something right in the range of what we get to see them do on “It’s Always Sunny.” But I should also add that this film should appeal to the typical audience of your average romantic comedies as well, as long as things like crude, sexual language doesn’t turn you away.
Aaaaaaaannnndddd, that’s my first review. I’ve been wanting to try and make a conscience effort to go see more movies, and maybe the movie review parts of this blog can get me to do that more. But I ain’t paying more than $2 a ticket until some millionare decides to start funding our movies. Sooo, millionaires get on that.
Peace,
-Grantzy
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