Culturebox: I'm a Mac, and I Was in E.T.

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movies I'm a Mac, and I Was in E.T. Justin Long and Drew Barrymore in Going the Distance. By Dana Stevens Posted Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010, at 5:17 PM ET Going the Distance (Paramount) is a pleasant, floppy romantic comedy that's hard to hate--the lead couple, played by Justin Long and Drew Barrymore, are too game and appealing to inspire much snark--but also hard to love. There's just not quite enough to the movie: not enough jokes, not enough obstacles, not enough sex. (Though there's plenty of talk about sex. Perhaps in an attempt to break down the wall between Apatow man-comedy and gooey chick flicks, the script by Geoff LaTulippe keeps up a steady flow of profanity.) Still, I'll give Going the Distance a pleasant, floppy stamp of approval. At least, unlike many recent romantic comedies (do I really have to name them? The Ugly Truth, All About Steve, The Proposal, et boring cetera), this film doesn't center around two mean, shallow jerks who communicate only in some sort of rigidly gendered mating code. Journalism student Erin (Barrymore) and record-label flack Garrett (Long) meet under realistically un-cute circumstances: At the end of a lousy day (he got dumped by his girlfriend; she realized her internship at a New York newspaper was leading nowhere), they go out, get hammered at a bar, and wind up at Garrett's place smoking pot and having sex. I liked that the movie presents these characters' fondness for partying not as wild debauchery but as matter-of-fact part of a certain young-adult lifestyle. Garrett and Erin aren't pie-eyed kids; they're in their early 30s, old enough to have lived through painful past relationships and to chafe at the limitations of their less-than-fulfilling jobs. So even when they have a six-week affair that's so romantic it's scored to the Cure's "Just Like Heaven," they don't necessarily assume they'll stay together when Erin's internship ends and she returns to her hometown of San Francisco. To continue reading, click here. Dana Stevens is Slate's movie critic. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate The Scary, Growing Backlash Against American Islam The New York Times' Skimpy Evidence That Women Are Suddenly Proud To Be Flat-Chested Automakers Used Dead Bodies To Test Their Cars. What Else Are Cadavers Good For?	Advertisement
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