GOING THE DISTANCE Movie Review. Can this Love Transcend Borders?

GOING THE DISTANCE Press Preview

It’s great to be in love, right?

It’s a pure feeling to be up there, on cloud 9.

Eternal love?

Well ….. maybe.

LOVE can blissfully arrive one Spring morning at your front door, when you least expect it.

For the same token, love can hurriedly exit by the back during a bleak Winter,

Happiness is transient?

Nothing stays forever?

Joy. Heartbreaks.

Falling in love is a part of living,

Breaking up is a passage in life.

GOING THE DISTANCE is a romantic comedy that tests your comfort zone,

It romps happily ever after, no worries.

So you really don’t have to reach for the tissue.

It’s a hey-I-feel-good-to-be-in-love kind of thingy, and a sweet love story cannot possibly go wrong.

But what if it is a long distance romance?

Will it last?

DREW BARRYMORE and JUSTIN LONG, sometimes on-screen and mostly off-screen lovers, are very experienced in this evasive game called LOVE.

They star in this hilarious feature, teaching us how to maintain a long-distance relationship.

DREW BARRYMORE revealed in one recent press interview that her REAL life relationship with LONG has added to their on-screen chemistry and overall outcome of the film.

“We’ve been through like, tough moments.

I just thought maybe it would seem more genuine if you believed that the people were going through it, as opposed to two actors acting it.”

JUSTIN LONG affirmed the status with his statement:

“Yeah, we’ve been through everything, the whole gamut of the heights of love to the depth of heartbreak. I mean, we’ve been on quite a journey.

And the idea that a person that you’re in a relationship with can change you so drastically and have that deep of an effect on your life, just that idea, I mean, what a gift to be able to use that, to be able to create something from it that we can see again.

It’s like a little time capsule. It’s a bit of permanence that usually doesn’t exist when you’re with somebody.”

The Story:

We have Erin (DREW BARRYMORE) as a 31 year old newspaper intern. She is lonesome, has six weeks to “kill” in New York City, before returning to finish her degree in San Francisco.

Garrett (JUSTIN LONG) is a happy-go-lucky record company employee, but he is also a commitment-phobic freak.

These two unlikely souls meet, have the hots for each other, and when Erin goes back to San Francisco, their hearts entwine and palpitate furiously because “absence makes the hearts grow fonder”. So it’s LOVE?

Naturally they start a long distance romance.

Trying to be with each other, Erin eagerly hunts for a job in New York and likewise, Garrett tries in San Francisco too. Their mutual attempts fail and hey – they did try calls, Skype and texting to keep the romance “alive”.

They even resorted to phone sex to fill the vacuum of their lonely nights without each other. (familiar, ah?)

Now, throw in Erin’s disapproving sister Corrine (CHRISTINA APPLEGATE) and her henpecked husband. Garrett too, has two hang-out buddies, Dan and Box (CHARLIE DAY and JASON SUDEIKIS), who are troublesome, meddlesome and moronic.

Hand these actors an awkward script that often takes a dig at sexual connotations and vulgarities.

Get NANETTE BURSTEIN to direct. She is best known for her award winning documentaries.

Finally, does this long distance romance work in the end?

Now remember …..

Whether you believe that a long distance relationship is going to hit the rocks or not, or if love can really transcend borders, this film is meant to be enjoyed.

Do not attend this movie with a slasher knife and hack it to pieces, because if you do, you will find loopholes.

That is not the purpose of making this movie.

GOING THE DISTANCE is a heart-and-soul romantic comedy and albeit a cliched one, but you’d have to suspend disbelief and go for the romp.

Love is sweet. Love is deep and tingly.

Love is universal, a powerful element we cannot live without.

Savor it when it is still there, lest one fine day you regret when it slips away from your hold.

GOING THE DISTANCE is a gentle reminder that we will do anything, everything in the name of LOVE.

Wouldn’t you think so?