The dire attempt among some independently minded directors over the past couple of years hoping to shake something loose in the romantic comedy genre has mostly been hampered by poor judgment, either hinging the film on a self-absorbed twit ((500) Days of Summer) or by overestimating the appeal of its leading man. Nanette Burstein’s Going the Distance is a long-distance relationship between Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, whose charm is palpable in small packages only (in real life, Long snags Barrymore and Hollywood responds by making entire movies devoted to solving the mystery of how that happened). Going The Distance has an appreciated frankness about relationships, but Long should be one of the rom-com’s quirky supporting players, not the lead guy.
This article appears in Aug 26 – Sep 1, 2010.
