All that having been said, it pretty much sucks. 4.5 Hours is a long way away. We have been seeing each other around 8 months now. If we lived across town from each other I'm sure one of us would be fixing the other diner almost every night, then crashing onto the couch to watch a French, Black & White gangster film from the 60's or Gilmore Girls (depending on who's house we are at). But we are confined to texting back and forth more than any 13 year old girl, calling upwards of 3-5 times a day and Skyping when time allows. But that's how things go. You figure out how to make it work.
Monday night I ventured into risky teritority. I took her to see the new Drew Barrymore / Justin Long vehicle "Going the Distance". I say this is risky because:
1. I am not a Drew Barrymore fan.
2. I am not a big romantic comedy fan (at least the past 20 years of movies or so)
3. The film is about a couple that embark on a long distance relationship cross country.
Reason 3 could have been disastrous for me. If the movie had ended on sour note, or if my special lady friend had found a way out or became disenchanted with me or our circumstance because of what could have been played out on screen, this could have spelled DOOM for me.
Fortunately, none of the three risks had any negitive impact on me / us. I can't believe I am typing this, but Drew Barrymore actually didn't grate on my nerves and she gave a semi-subtle, well crafted performance. I was at first turned off by the thought of what I believed to be an almost a "cougaresque" story. I figured Barrymore to be 10 years Long's senior. But once the film started to get it's feet that feeling went away. Then I looked on the interwebs and it says she is only 4 years older than he. I guess growing up with Mrs Barrymore I had placed her at an age near my own, while Justin Long is a bit of a new comer and I had guessed him a little young. I should say that I think it is also commendable that Drew Barrymore seems to be aging gracefully and naturally. There are a few scenes where her and wild youth shows through, but perhaps to her advantage. I looked at her and could easily see images of her grandmother Dolores Costello. A silent film star and vivacious beauty for her time. I will not pretend that Drew Barrymore has, or will obtain, the chops to play Norma Desmond in a Sunset Blvd. remake (let's pray the studios never even try) but I can totally see her physically fitting the role in 30 years or so.
As a romantic comedy it succeeded as well. It accomplished something that not many rom-com's do. It was both romantic and comical. Charlie Day from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" fame provides some moments of comedic relief that nearly had me falling out of my seat from laughter. Jason Sudeikis puts up a nice performance as well.
I talked about how "I Love You Phillip Morris" might struggle to find an audience. Believe it or not this film might suffer from the same problem. As a 30 something I kind of grew tired of listening to these young, attractive people whine about their problems. And I can see 20 somethings not ready to deal with or cope with the issues presented in the movie. Alongside that there were some visual flourishes and animation that didn't really add anything to the movie and kind of served to remove my from the story. Anytime I have to ask why the director is doing that, it is generally not a good thing. As for the story I don't think I am spoiling anything to say that they don't call it quits when the going get tough, but at least it is not as formulaic as some films in this catalog can be. There is a scene where he tells her to follow her dreams and as he tells her goodbye I was afraid his phone was going to ring and the call solves all their problems. But it rights the ship soon after that. This movie has about 8 endings. The first one being a realization that long distances don't work. I thought for a second that this was going to be the ballsiest rom-com ever. But alas the good guy always wins. He doesn't quite show up on a white horse, but whatever the new millennium version of that is should suffice and it does get a little sappy towards the end. But what do you expect. It's a Drew Barrymore movie!
The car ride home was a little bittersweet. We both enjoyed the movie and the weekend. And as soon as it was over that brick kinda startted to set low in my stomach. The knowledge that I won't see her again for a couple of weeks started seeping in and we tried to talk about the movie. We tried to cram our missing puzzle pieces into their story line. Looking for that quick fix. This movie didn't provide the road map to a successful long distance relationship, but it was a honest telling of a familiar story and it let us laugh before we parted ways. I would give this a 3.5/5 stars. For more information check out the link below for the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eXDRgEL2AA
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