Taglines: A comedy about meeting each other halfway.
Erin’s (Drew Barrymore) wry wit and unfiltered frankness charm newly single Garrett (Justin Long) over beer, bar trivia and breakfast the next morning. Their chemistry sparks a full-fledged summer fling, but neither expects it to last once Erin heads home to San Francisco and Garrett stays behind for his job in New York City.
But when six weeks of romping through the city inadvertently become meaningful, neither is sure they want it to end. And while Garrett’s friends, Box (Jason Sudeikis) and Dan (Charlie Day), joke about his pre-flight calorie-cutting and his full-time relationship with his cell phone, they don’t like losing their best drinking buddy to yet another rocky romance.
At the same time, Erin’s high-strung, overprotective married sister, Corrine (Christina Applegate), wants to keep Erin from heading down an all-too-familiar road. But despite the opposite coasts, the nay-saying friends and family, and a few unexpected temptations, the couple just might have found something like love, and with the help of a lot of texting, sexting and late-night phone calls, they might actually go the distance.
All the Right Moves
A raucous and romantic comedy with both heart and heat, “Going the Distance” tells the story of what can happen when a beer-and-barbecued wingsfueled one-night stand accidentally turns into something more.
When Erin and Garrett hook up, their intentions are to have a few fun and frisky weeks before she heads back to grad school in San Francisco and he stays in New York City. But when Erin’s about to board a plane for home, they both realize they have developed deeper feelings for one another, and they don’t want whatever it is they have together to end. So, they decide to give the “long distance thing” a go.
The film stars Drew Barrymore and Justin Long as the cross-country couple whose booty calls actually take place over the phone.
Barrymore reveals, “I liked this story because it had a lot of humor and it was sexy, but it was also surprisingly emotional. I couldn’t stop thinking about these characters and I really cared about why or how they were or weren’t able to work out their issues. Any story that deals with the complexities of a relationship in a very comical and contemporary way totally interests me.”
“I’d been reading a lot of romantic comedies,” Long recalls, “and this one really stood out for me in the sense that it was much more raw and realistic, and very funny, too. It didn’t hold back at all.”
“Coming from documentaries, where I capture real life, I wanted to direct a movie that would feel as real as possible—people do swear, and they say what’s on their mind,” says director Nanette Burstein. “It was such a fresh story and the premise was so natural. I really responded to the material and I felt that a lot of people would relate to it.”
Producer Adam Shankman agrees. “It’s a pretty honest look at the perils of the long distance relationship, which can be really hard no matter how much the people involved adore each other.”
Shankman and his producing partner, Jennifer Gibgot, also found the realistic, mature nature of the comedy refreshing. “It was very exciting to both Jennifer and me because we hadn’t ventured into that territory, and the truth of the matter is, my sense of humor leans a bit toward the subversive,” Shankman offers.
“There’s a tremendous amount of freedom when you’re shooting a scene, whether it’s a love scene, a fight scene, whatever, if the characters can talk the way that people really talk,” Gibgot states.
The screenplay was penned by first-time feature writer Geoff LaTulippe, who didn’t have to look far for inspiration. “The idea for the story actually came—and this would be shocking to a lot of people—from a night of drinking,” he deadpans. He and executive producer Dave Neustadter were kicking around ideas when Neustadter mentioned that he had just gotten out of a long distance relationship.
“Dave had a bunch of stories about what he’d gone through, and neither of us could remember the subject being the focus of a movie before, certainly not a comedy. We thought it was full of comedic set ups and could actually bear out some really heartfelt stuff, too, but with an edge. Real life has an edge to it.”
The writer had no problem pushing the boundaries when it came to the scenarios and the dialogue. In addition to his romance, Garrett has a bromance going on with the other significant others in his life, best friends Box and Dan, played by rising comedy stars Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day. LaTulippe put these characters in a few unexpected, if utterly real, situations.
“It’s not the `50s anymore, we’re not afraid to see women’s knees and hear Fbombs, and it seemed like anything that was funny was fair game in the script,” Day smiles.
“There was a script? I didn’t read a script,” kids Sudeikis. “The world is populated by people with a sardonic perspective, and Geoff is definitely one of them,” Shankman offers. “The story was not overly earnest, because it has characters who have that sense of irony, who know they’re living in the real world and doing what real people do to try to stay together in what’s not the best of circumstances. That includes maintaining their sense of humor.”
Producer Garrett Grant contends, “With today’s economic environment making it even harder on young people who aren’t established in their careers, it’s a struggle to make things work when you don’t have as many choices. Not having the luxury of working wherever you want or the money to travel back-and-forth very often is tough, so this really hits home.”
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Going the Distance (2010)
Directed by: Nanette Burstein
Starring by: Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Christina Applegate, Ron Livingston, Kelli Garner, Sarah Burns, Natalie Morales, June Diane Raphael, Leighton Meester, Benita Robledo, Kristen Schaal
Screenplay by: Geoff LaTulippe
Production Design by: Kevin Kavanaugh
Cinematography by: Eric Steelberg
Film Editing by: Peter Teschner
Costume Design by: Catherine Marie Thomas
Set Decoration by: David Schlesinger
Art Direction by: John Kasarda, Peter Rogness
Music by: Mychael Danna
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content including dialogue, language throughout, some drug use and brief nudity.
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
Release Date: September 3, 2010