Romantic comedies are easily the most kicked around genre in Hollywood these day, and for good reason. For as many uninspired, by the books horror movie that are pumped out each weekend, a handful of decent to great ones sneak out. In the rom-com world, we are lucky to come across more than a single decent one per year. 2010 kicked off with a putrid pairing of Leap Year and and the even worse When in Rome, the latter which is amongst the laziest, most terrible films of the past decade. It’s a shame the genre is in such shambles. A genuinely funny, truly engaging romantic comedy is one of cinema’s great delights. This weekend, theater goes will receive such a treat with Going the Distance.
Directed by noted documentarian Nanette Burstein (The Kid Stays in the Picture) and written by newcomer Geoffe LaTulippe, Going the Distance is a total charmer centering on two love-birds. The first is Erin (Drew Barrymore), an early thirties woman who is trying to break in the newspaper industry as a writer. Native to San Francisco, Erin is interning at a New York paper where her cohorts are distinctly younger. Erin’s finding a career past the time most have either found one of give up their dream job. Years ago she skipped out on a prime opportunity to move across country for a boyfriend, a decision she has vowed never to make again.
Six weeks away from moving back home, Erin meets Garrett (Justin Long), a music label employee fresh from a breakup. The two meet at a bar over a game of Centipede and quickly fall for one another. They decide that no tangled feelings are allowed to develop, but of course they do. Despite their knowledge that long distance relationships almost never work, Erin and Garrett give it a shot.
In many ways, Going the Distance follows the standard rom-com tropes. At times, the movie plays as a combination of James L. Brooks and Judd Apatow. The movie contains some goofball best friends for the guy (Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis in hilarious supporting turns). Temptations to cheat show up, each one looking like a supermodel. Yet, there is clearly more going on here.
Foremost of all is that these characters don’t live in a vacuum. Erin and Garrett’s jobs, or lack there of, impact their moods and thus the relationship. The movie isn’t merely a countdown to the moment where these two embrace in the final act. Their struggle to be together isn’t based on a wild miscommunication. Erin makes mistakes. Garrett makes mistakes. They clearly could be happy together. Whether or not the hand they’ve been dealt will allow this to occur is a true mystery. Barrymore and Long are excellent here, sharing the chemistry the on-again, off-again couple has had in real life. Their romance is based on making one another laugh by offering support, not the annoying rom-com staple of a montage and smiling over a softly sung acoustic song.
Burstein may not do much interesting in her camerawork, but she lets the jokes play out with little fuss. There are a handful of times, particularly at a dinner with Erin’s sister (the scene-stealing and deadpan Christina Applegate) and her married friends, that the goofiness borders on tedious. Applegate’s husband (Jim Gaffigan) and his pal (Rob Riggle) get angry about Garrett showing them up by being a good boyfriend. Such bad stereotypical moments are rare in Going the Distance, even if they remain annoyingly simple.
The test of a good romantic comedy has always been simple; do you laugh and yearn for the couple involved to stay/get together. Going the Distance passes the exam with flying colors.
Going the Distance opens wide all across Seattle today.
When can a movie be too long, one-note and with as many phoned in performances as good ones, yet still be enjoyable? When that film is Robert Rodriguez’s Machete.
Expanded from a fake trailer that was part of 2007’s Grindhouse behemoth, Machete features the sandpaper faced pile of mean named Danny Trejo as the titular character. A former member of the Mexican Federale, Machete fights for his Latino brothers and sisters, whether it’s against drug lords, vigilantes or American senators. To go through the plot further is genuinely unnecessary. Basically, Machete kills the bad guys, sleeps with the ladies and occasionally speaks in a voice that resembles churning concrete.
This is trashy, easy filmmaking by Rodriguez, who directed the film alongside protege Ethan Maniquis and wrote the screenplay with Alvaro Rodriguez. Ever after all these years, Rodriguez still plays it safe in nearly every outing. One can’t help watching all the brutality and bloodshed that takes place during Machete and not wish for the director to challenge himself.
Which is not the same thing as saying Macehte is boring. Amidst the extremely clunky exposition and shoddy genre acting by the likes of Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan and Robert De Niro (whose pairing with the other two is sad), Machete has splashes of inspired madness. Trejo guts a man and uses the poor fella’s intestines to swing through a window in a crazy escape. Elsewhere, a showdown between a border guarding militia and a horde of illegal immigrants features a slew of cars bouncing ridiculously high on hydraulics, with one rising like a creature from the streets, its entire frame then crashing down upon a man as if swallowing him whole. Plus, Don Johnson and Jeff Fahey do marvelously scummy work as two self-righteous pricks with agendas. Rooting for their inevitable demise is definitely part of the fun.
Watching this picture alone on a Tuesday will do little for you. On a Saturday night with a group of pals screaming is the ideal - and maybe only - way to enjoy this, aside from waiting a year and watching the good parts in a three minute Youtube clip.
Machete opens wide all across Seattle today.
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