Going the Distance [Blu-ray]

Just finished watching the movie.

Short rant:
This film is rated R. I have read through the reviews here, about people only watching 10 minutes of the film and turning it off due to language... If you look at the rating on this page and on the box itself, it is rated R for language, some drug use, and sex. If you are sensitive to the F word, sexual images, drugs, *and* you are trying to watch this movie with your family, then you are doing something wrong. Also the "I expected better of Drew" comments... actors try new things. Yes, Drew Barrymore has done lots of romcom chick flicks that you can watch with your preteen, but you might take notice that they are by and large PG-13, not R. If you are sensitive and/or watching this with your family or young ones, it is *your* responsibility to read the rating, not blindly watch a movie expecting it to adhere to your standards.
/end rant

As for the movie, the beginning introduces us to Garrett (Justin Long), who is newly single as a result of a funny miscommunication with his (now ex) girlfriend, and a summer intern, Erin (Drew Barrymore), who is working for the New York Sentinel newspaper while on break from grad school at Stanford. They meet at a bar and hit it off in a really unique way--over an interrupted game of Centipede; our female lead is the reigning champion on the arcade game's score board, and our male lead the interrupter and runner-up. It was unusual enough for me to take notice and expect a different kind of movie! The two leads hit off while a countdown starts running on the 6 weeks Erin has left before her summer internship is over.

Garrett has a conversation in the local bar with his friends before he meets Erin about how he didn't cry over losing his girlfriend, that maybe he didn't care enough about her to do so. This is something to keep in mind over the movie... I paid a lot of attention to the characters' faces throughout.

The movie tests out different features of long distance relationships: loneliness, texting, skyping, phone sex, jealousy over sexy coworkers, etc. Probably the most interesting topic addressed by the movie is career vs. relationship. There is a marked push-and-pull between these two competing interests, and it is interesting how the two main characters resolve this conflict.

So many things give this movie its quirky charm. Garrett's roommate, Dan, listens through Garrett's walls and tries to DJ his hookups; Erin's sister is a clean-freak and germaphobe; Garrett's other friend has an obsession with snagging an older woman using his mustache; Erin's niece Maya is a little monster ("Maya, STATUE!" haha); and Garrett has a Top Gun fetish.

Several funny moments punctuate the film and make it a fun experience. I would recommend this movie to you if you like off-beat humor, don't mind the R rating (language, sex, and drugs), and want to see a a rom-com that takes on long distance relationships. If you liked Knocked Up [Blu-ray], The Hangover (Unrated Edition) [Blu-ray], and He's Just Not That Into You [Blu-ray], you'll probably like this one. On a personal note, I'm getting married in three months to a man I've been seeing for 2+ years, nearly one of which was long distance, so I definitely resonated with a lot of the funny moments in the film.

I usually do not write reviews on sites such as this but felt like I should for this film (considering that roughly a third of the reviewers have given it a 1). I know that film is subjective but I can objectively say that you are a moron if you gave this movie a 1.

A few reviewers attributed their low rating of the film in part due to the "bad language" in it. Well the film is rated R "for sexual content including dialogue, language throughout, some drug use and brief nudity", can you people read...do you not bother looking at a film's rating before you watch it. If you do not want to watch a film because it has bad language in it then fine, don't watch it, and definately don't give it a bad review for it.

Also, a couple people pointed out that the film was "cliche"...people pointing out how something is cliche has become cliche at this point. Let me tell you something: at this point everything is cliche, everything has been done before. Whether or not it is done well is what I care about when watching a film.

In my opinion this film was well written, directed, and acted. Yes, there was bad language in the film but guess what? Most 20-somethings swear, I actually liked this aspect of the film...it gave it an added sense of realism. I personally thought the dialog was sharp and witty, much better written than your average romantic comedy. I like films that have a little edge to them and this film had that.

Regarding the acting, I thought everyone did a very good job. I don't watch a lot of Drew Barrymore movies but I thought she was very good in this as was Justin Long. They both are very natural on film and seem to have good chemistry. I also like that they both look like they could be your neighbor which is very far from standard in these kind of films. The supporting cast was great as well. Sudeikis and Charlie Day were very solid as Justin Long's friends. If you saw Horrible Bosses than you know how well they work together.

Now don't expect a lot of belly laughs from this, I found the film to be much more humorous than laugh out loud funny. That being said, I would rather watch a film that is consistenly humorous than one that has a couple of big laughs but drags the rest of the time.

So, in closing, I would say the film is a 4 out of 5 but I'm giving it a 5 because of all the 1 star reviews. Give it a chance it was much better than I was expecting from the trailers/reviews.

Short Attention Span Summary:

1. Guy meets girl.
2. Girl moves away.
3. The two try to carry on a long distance relationship, and the conflict is (of course) the effect of the distance on their relationship.

This movie was good all the way through, and while the content was chick-ish, it did provide many a good laugh. The writing was very good and the characters were well cast.

It would be worth the price of a second hand DVD to me. (As it happens, I saw this film on a plane included as part of the ticket.)