Going the Distance

It’s Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. It’s a romantic comedy. It’s about long-distance relationships. Unsurprisingly, Going the Distance is just as predictable as these three facts and loses little from the simplifications.

Coming in, the audience likely knows that this movie will be formulaic. It’s a tale of unexpected, strained love that borrows visual elements from 500 Days of Summer and the plane motif of Up in the Air, this time situating the story within the tumultuous contemporary environments of the newspaper and record industries.

Although the story is predictable in the extreme, the writing does add some funny and interesting moments. For instance, while discussing Top Gun, Garrett (Justin Long) confesses a passion for homoerotic fighter-pilot movies to his love interest, Erin (Drew Barrymore). Later, Garrett’s pal Box (Jason Sudeikis) explains that he’s growing a mustache to seduce older women. “This isn’t a mustache,” he says, “it’s a time machine.” In this played-out form, such quirky dialogue is a welcome diversion.

What makes this film less-than-nauseating is its cast. Barrymore and Long perform well, but the show-stealers are the supporting actors. Jim Gaffigan and Christina Applegate particularly shine in their depiction of a polarized, frustrated married couple.

Ultimately, Going the Distance is enjoyable and will cause chortles and maybe even a few guffaws, but as anything beyond a cheap comedy, it’s lacking. To exploit the title’s travel reference, they have the body of the plane, but they’re missing the wings.