Drew Barrymore and Justin Long star in that rarity – a sweet, smart, funny and successful romantic comedy for adults. Screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe tries a novel approach that respects the audience- creating characters like the ones we know in real life, who talk and act like real people do. Instead of an implausible set-up, the conflict here is the real problem of a bi-coastal romance.
Her sister, played by Christina Applegate, is wound very tight for comic effect, but I know people like her. His friends are WAY eccentric, but their exaggerated quirkiness delivers laughs without distracting from the central romance. Going the Distance has the toilet humor of a guy flick, but both genders were yukking it up at the screening I attended.