How do you solve a problem like the romantic comedy? Going The Distance, directed by Nanette Burstein, tries to give a tired formula some juice by putting its lovers on opposite coasts. Erin (Drew Barrymore) and Garrett (Justin Long) meet in New York, but after a few weeks she's back to California for grad school while he's stuck in his Manhattan record label job. Erin is a journalism student, and the movie tries to get mileage out of the failing health of the two leads' career fields and what that might mean for their relationship. Going the Distance might be the first movie I've seen that is honest about how unsatisfying interacting with a loved one over the Internet is; there are only so many sneezing panda videos one can bond over. Garrett and Erin turn for solace to the movie's large and lively supporting cast. Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day nicely tag-team the roles of Garrett's best friends, their riffing doesn't feel like it was cooked up in a writer's room. As Erin's sister and brother-in-law, Christina Applegate and Jim Gaffigan underplay well and Applegate nails the simultaneous feelings of love for Erin and fear for her future.
Drew Barrymore is well cast as a woman behind life's curve; she and Long have good chemistry but Long seems curiously unruffled by plot's ups and downs and Garrett's self-centeredness is given a pass. Going The Distance gets by thanks to Barrymore and the loose sense of life its actors provide, but it's just a more congested panda.
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