GOING THE DISTANCE post-release

I didn't know anything about this movie. Hadn't even seen a trailer. Based on the title, I thought it would be some Rocky knock-off. Some friends wanted to go so I tagged along.

It was just watchable enough. Barrymore and Long are appealing leads, but I never found myself getting all that invested in their relationship. The movie starts out a lot better than the way it sputters to an end. The opening showcases a fun variety of supporting characters and minor roles and is pretty upbeat. Then the movie has to get down to the strain of the long-distance relationship and takes up the 2nd half of the movie.

The movie's probably only about 100 minutes (I haven't checked its official runtime), but that 2nd half REALLY dragged. It's just about how much the long-distance relationship sucks as we skip months at a time as they visit each other back and forth.

One thing I didn't know... As the movie started, I'd assumed that the movie was a strictly PG-13 affair based on the cutesy nature of the leads. Had no idea the movie would be as vulgar as it was. I certainly didn't mind that. But for some reason, it felt really forced coming from Barrymore. As if the movie were trying too hard to be edgy and openly sexual. Probably has more to do with the baggage I have towards Barrymore for the types of movies I associate her with.

It's nothing I would go see myself. But if you have a date that wants to go, you could do a lot worse.

Also... how old is Drew Barrymore now? It's addressed in the movie that her character got to a late start on her career/dreams/education, but she came across a lot older than Long in this.

According to the IMDB, she's 35 and he's 32.

This movie feels like she wanted to squeeze one last romantic comedy in before she hit 40 and was relegated to playing Mom roles.

Which is fine by me. Both Justin Long and Barrymore are delightful actors and I'm a fan of romantic comedies, though I generally prefer them to be a bit more high-concept than this.

Aren't they also a real life couple?
This seems like they just wanted to have fun making a film together and that's it.

Not anything I'm willing to catch in the theater but you'd think with Charlie Day, Jason Sudekis, Christina Applegate, Jim Gaffigan, and Justin Long it is at least watchable. Seems kind of like a newer The Sweetest Thing.

Wow. I thought she was a lot older than that and he was much younger. My initial thoughts on their rom-com pairing being a little strange because of a huge age difference are no longer valid, I guess.

Yeah, the movie was easy to watch when that cast was allowed to have their fun, but it gets really dull once the story needs to start resolving itself. That the resolution isn't anything you didn't see coming certainly didn't help.

Day, Sudekis, and Gaffigan were the most entertaining.

The movie has a pretty hilarious random reference to Michael Bay and Transformers. I'm curious as to whether it was adlibbed or not.

I was stunned at how much I enjoyed this. I didn't see the vulgarity coming, but it was welcome, because I'm really immature. It's the the most fun when it's just letting the cast riff, and they nail it when they do. Some odd cameos in this--Kristin Schaal, Rob Riggle, and Ron Livingston are all billed, but only turn up for one scene each. Anyway, movie was much more fun than I would have thought.

Took the fiance to this the other day based on what I had heard and....I really, really liked it. Great supporting cast and the chemistry between Long and Barrymore was very good. I DESPISE romantic comedies and chick flicks but this had plenty of laughs and some great pop culture refs. Not as good as Knocked Up (which I enjoyed much less upon revisiting recently) but you can tell the director definitly took alot of inspiration from it. Love Charlie Day on It's Always Sunny and he basically plays the same character here and I'm perfectly ok with that.

This makes the perfect date movie for both genders.

Saw this on Monday with the lady, and we both liked it quite a bit. We're in a long distance relationship at the moment, with myself in South Carolina and her in Cincinnati with plans for her to move down her next summer, so the movie was very relatable.

I've liked Justin Long for a long time, ever since he was on that long-forgotten show Ed, so it's hard for me to not enjoy anything he's in. I dug that the movie didn't take the easy route: for instance, when jealousy and possible cheating storylines are introduced, they are quickly dealt with, instead of being used as plot devices to keep the characters apart.

I will admit the movie's pace felt a little off, with the opening scene seeming to be out of a completely different movie. Even the lightning was strange, and without any of the vulgarity that suddenly pops up twenty or so minutes in. Also, the bong smoking scene was a little weird, as they don't smoke pot again for the rest of the movie. One night stand dealy?

Also the Garden State soundtrack line killed me.