New Line Review in a Hurry: Bicoastal curious? Then you might get off on this uneven romantic comedy, which flings its young lovers—after their fling—to opposite sides of the country. As a riotous comedy,
Distance falls short, but it still racks up several miles for sweetness.
The Bigger Picture: It was only a matter of time before the current queen of rom-coms,
Drew Barrymore, teamed up with on-again-off-again boyfriend
Justin Long (Are they? Aren't they??). But as demonstrated by her best work in the genre (
The Wedding Singer,
Music and Lyrics), Barrymore needs a strong leading man who can match her comedic persona. While Long is an amiable guy—and flashes enough skin to give fans a Mac attack—he doesn't quite go the
Distance.
Long plays record-label rep Garrett, who bounces back from a breakup by bonding with and bedding journalism intern Erin (Barrymore). The two embark on a six-week-only affair, since she plans to return to San Francisco for the fall semester, and he has his gig in New York.
New Line Productions When their summer-lovin' turns into something more meaningful, neither wants the relationship to end. They decide to try the long-distance thing. But exorbitant airfares limit their actual face—and other body parts—time, so they rely on lots of texting, Skyping, late-night calls, and even phone sex.
Presumably because of their past (current?) romance, Barrymore and Long have a cute, comfortable rapport, and the pic gets grounded when they're not together. Unfortunately, their characters just aren't very interesting. She wants to be a newspaper reporter; he digs indie bands and
Top Gun, and—did I mention they're cute?
The laughs are hit-and-miss. There's a good gag involving sex on a dining room table and the reaction by Erin's uptight sister (
Christina Applegate). But scenes between Garrett and his doofus buds (
Justin Sudeikis,
Charlie Day) drag on. Plus, the script sometimes strains to be edgy-funny by scraping the bottom of the taste barrel, with awkward bits about masturbation and oral sex. Definitely not for the whole family—keep the kiddies at a
Distance.
The 180—a Second Opinion: Despite being a comedy, the film surprisingly taps into modern-day anxieties about the recession, unemployment, and demise of the newspaper and music industries
Anthony/PacificCoastNews.com; Frazer Harrison/Getty Images 
