tinseltine

• View
• Edit

This romantic comedy also feature’s Barrymore’s real life love interest Justin Long and Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)
for added comic relief. The movie deals with the pitfalls of long
distance relationships. Garrett (Long) meets Erin (Barrymore) when he
blocks the screen of her old school centipede arcade game – “Who does
that?” What starts out as a casual hook up, turns into the real thing. 
Problem, Erin is in NY for a summer internship at the Sentinel
Newspaper and plans to go back to San Francisco to finish her degree.
Garrett is just establishing himself as an A&R rep at a small
record label.

Personally, I’ve never been in a truly long distance relationship,
but I once dated a guy that lived in Delaware (less than 2hrs away) and
he broke up with me citing -logistics. Dated another guy in Allentown,
(again, less than 2 hrs away in the other direction) sent him a text
once with a very steamy promise if he agreed to drive to me after work.
His reply, “Not during the week, cause I’d  have to leave your place
super early in the morning to get to work on time”.

So the movie’s theme is very real and relate-able. The chemistry between the two is good. Their initial “sleep over” involving Top Gun
soundtrack is laugh out loud funny. The standard falling in love
montage works. Things like trust issues, phone sex, and surprise visits
are all covered with good humor and realism. Side issues like both
characters working in industries that are in states of major change and
severe cutbacks add to the dilemma. Christina Applegate and my personal favorite comedian, Jim Gaffigan are fun as Erin’s dry humping sister and brother-in-law. And Garrett’s two side kicks, mustachioed, Box (Jason Sudeikis) and bathroom open door policy Dan (Day) keep him busy during Erin’s absence.  Still, somehow, I feel the movie is a little flat.

To read or listen to the Q & A with Nanette Burstein go to Philadelphia Film Society blog