It seems like there are dozens of romantic comedies that come out every year, and let’s face it: all of them are virtually the same. Two people who we know belong together overcome obstacles—many of which are self-inflicted—to find true love.  Since the plots are so similar, what separates the good ones from the bad ones are the characters and the comedy.  Fortunately, Going the Distance features fun, lovable characters and plenty of good laughs.

The two lovers are Erin and Garrett.  She’s an aspiring journalist and he works for a record label.  Sparks fly almost immediately when the two meet cute standing over a Centipede machine at a New York City bar.  A classic montage of romantic scenes later and they seem even more like a match made in heaven.  The obstacle arises when Erin’s internship at a New York paper ends and she has to go back to San Francisco to finish her degree.  Not wanting to bring an end to a good thing, the couple decide to try out a long-distance relationship.

The entire middle section of the film focuses on the difficulties such a relationship can go through.  Both Erin and Garrett have those close friends and family members that you hope don’t really exist in real life: the ones that are constantly bringing up matters of the other one’s likely infidelities and only making things worse.  Of course, these friends have their motives as they have to deal with the side effects of a technologically modern long distance relationship, and the way one of them deals with Garrett’s constant texting is one of the comedic highlights of the film.  Garrett’s visits to Erin on the West Coast also prove good sources for humor as he meets her sister in one of the most uncomfortable ways possible.

A more cynical viewer may find this middle section frustrating as the couple tends to avoid logic and obvious decisions when it comes to figuring out how they could both end up in the same state, but the characters are so charming that most audience members should be able to set that aside.  Besides, we know the characters are inevitably going to figure it out in the end, right?

Most of the credit for this movie has to go to the two stars, as lesser personalities might have left audiences checking their watches in frustration.  Drew Barrymore and Justin Long are both charming and fun performers and it is easy for the audience to buy into their story.  Barrymore has been a charmer ever since she first taught E.T. how to say “phone home” and it is nice to see Long breaking out of that computer geek character he was typecast as early in his career.  Together, they also manage to find that elusive quality called chemistry that is always crucial to the success of a romantic comedy.

After a couple of successful documentaries, Going the Distance is the first fictional feature for director Nanette Burstein and she doesn’t miss a beat.  The movie successfully blends some broad comedy with a quieter sense of humor and all of it mixes well with genuine emotion.  Whereas many romantic comedies these days seem to be just going through the paces, there is an emotional core to the love story in Going the Distance which makes the resolution all the more enjoyable.

As the plot goes, there’ s not much unexpected to be found in Going the Distance, but fans of good humor and delightful characters won’t be disappointed.

Going the Distance is rated R for “sexual content including dialogue, language throughout, some drug use and brief nudity.”  There’s some brief nudity and the screenwriters definitely planned on this movie being R rated when they wrote the dialogue.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Jeff attended a promotional screening of Going the Distance.