The 2009 movie, The Hangover, truly set a new bar for R rated comedies, proving that smart humor and extravagant this-could-actually-happen situations are what make a film something audiences want to watch. Despite the film’s excessive success, there haven’t been a lot of movies jumping on the newly proven formula. This week, however, Warner Brother’s release of Going the Distance proves someone is catching on.
Going the Distance is indeed a tale of boy meets girl. Freshly out of yet another break-up Garrett (Justin Long) meets Erin (Drew Barrymore) at a New York City bar after screwing up her high score game of Centipede. After buying her a beer and dominating the bar’s trivia night the couple spends the night together.
In the morning, each of them realizes they might actually want to hang out in the future and their one night hookup turns into a budding romance. The only hitch is that Erin has to leave in 6 weeks to go home to California and finish school. At the last minute, the couple decides to give the long distance thing a try and we watch the struggle of long-term relationships unfold.
The success of this story lies in its layers of realism. Erin is a 30-ish year old grad student who wonders why her life is taking so long to get started. Garrett is a somewhat jaded record studio employee who questions whether his “dream job” is cutting it for him. It’s a life stage a lot of us can relate to, especially in these times. Their lives aren’t perfect and the romance isn’t flawless. It doesn’t take some epic event to move from the boy-gets-girl to the boy-loses-girl stage, not everyone gets his or her way, and the ending isn’t entirely happy ever after.
The obvious chemistry between Drew and Justin, proven in real life and on screen, contributes to creating a sense that you’re looking into the life of people who really exist. Both unmarried 30-somethings in real life, some of the plots elements don’t fall far from the truth. The story not only transforms the audience into a collective group that can relate to the characters circumstances, it brings the superstars down to earth.
Now that we’ve covered the whole artsy film-as-collective-experience-thing, I can touch on what really makes this movie worth a watch, it’s funny as hell. The dialogue in this film is genius. People these days don’t talk like we’re in a romantic on-screen romance. Check out any real-life young American couple and you’ll find them using cuss words, vulgarity, and blatant sexual advances to express their feelings for each other. That’s why Going the Distance is so freaking funny, not only are you like “Damn, that’s hilarious!” you’re saying to yourself “Wow people really do say that.” Erin and Garrett are independent, emotionally awkward, and slightly detached, just like the rest of us. It doesn’t make their still adorable romance any less validated, it makes it believable.
Going the Distance is legitimately one of the best of the year. It’s funny, relatable, entertaining, and fun. It deserves popularity and I commend everyone who took park for bringing back the stuff successful comedies are made of.
Going the Distance deserves a wholehearted 5 out of 5.
