FILMS I WATCH LATE: Going the Distance

I get some guilty pleasure from watching romantic comedies, but it hurts when I see the one which would actually be a good film, if it wasn't a romantic comedy. This is the case of Going the Distance to me. Now imagine it has been done as a comedy drama instead, maybe directed by some indie director like Jason Reitman. It is charming, well-written, well acted and witty but filled with unnecessary jokes about bums and baby pigeons.

Drew Barrymore fells in love with Justin Long whom she meets in a pub. Their relationship can only last six weeks because she's going back to her hometown. However, they are so perfect together that they decide to keep in touch by making their relationship long distance. And it only lasts for a year but it's still too long for them to survive it without doubts, worries and little fights.

I like their relationship. It's honest, straightforward, it has problems normal people struggle with and it works. There is a nice chemistry between Drew Barrymore and Justin Long and even though for the first half of the film, I had the feeling that it's badly casted, I got used to them in the second half and I liked both of them as characters. They were easily identifiable and likeable.

Interestingly also, the love struggles they are going though are not only presented from female point of view, which is so typical for romantic comedies. Actually, Drew Barrymore is sometimes more masculine than Justin Long and she makes logical decisions and even though romantic at heart, she does not leave her career behind for a man, like women usually do in romantic comedies. She is a strong, independent woman and he is a strong, independent man and that's why it works.

But because Going the Distance is trying to hard to satisfy Jennifer Aniston's audience, it fails to satisfy me completely (even at 2 am in the morning). Thus it only gets 6/10 today.