‘Going the Distance’

Sometimes the idea of a movie turns out to be more appealing than the movie itself.

That's certainly the case with "Going the Distance," a sporadically diverting romantic comedy that's as all over the place as its main characters.

It may be as contrived and lame-brained as its recent romantic-comedy competition (which is plenty), but at least it's about something recognizably real: the inevitable tug-of-war between head and heart as its characters try to make their long-distance relationship work.

Initially, hearts aren't part of the equation when Erin (Drew Barrymore) and Garrett (Apple computer pitchman Justin Long) encounter each other in New York.

She's an overage newspaper intern, six weeks away from returning to grad school at Stanford. He's a low-level music scout who's just been dumped by his latest girlfriend. And neither one's looking for more than a good time when they bond over beers, bar trivia and bong hits.

After six weeks frolicking on the beach, sharing intimate dinners and exchanging confidences, however, Erin and Garrett realize that they don't want their summer idyll to end -- despite the fact that she's heading back to San Francisco and he's staying in New York.

Thus begins the bicoastal phase of their relationship: a little texting, a little phone sex, a lot of yearning as they try to figure out how, when -- and whether -- they'll be able to get (and stay) together.

Oh, and there's something else these two lovebirds share: pitiful employment prospects, creating yet another obstacle to their continuing attachment.

In the meantime, each has his or her own personal comedy chorus line with whom they trade punch lines. In the Bay Area, it's Erin's shrill sister Corinne (Christina Applegate), a neat freak who's as uptight as her rumpled husband (Jim Gaffigan) is laid-back. And in New York, Garrett's still hanging out with pals Dan ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's" Charlie Day) and Box ("Saturday Night Live's" Jason Sudeikis), each of whom has an even more pathetic and/or nonexistent love life than Garrett.

These days, the biggest challenge for any romantic comedy is figuring out how to build and maintain some kind of suspense despite the fact that couples get together sooner rather than later.

It's a problem neither screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe nor director Nanette Burstein knows how to solve.

Once upon a time, LaTulippe's script was reportedly on Hollywood's legendary Black List -- an annual rundown of top unproduced screenplays. But it suffers from a definite case of trying to be all things to all people.

Sometimes it's rueful and funny. Sometimes it's raunchy and funny. (As evidenced by those gratuitous F-bombs exploding all over the place.) Sometimes it's poignant -- and sometimes it's just plain sappy.

Some directors might be able to overcome the movie's seesaw script. But Burstein clearly is not that director -- not yet, anyway.

Making her feature debut following such documentaries as "On the Ropes," "The Kid Stays in the Picture" and "American Teen," Burstein (not surprisingly) displays a documentarian's keen eye for individual idiosyncrasies. Some of these quirks lead to the movie's sporadic bright spots -- and some of them seem jarring and discordant amid the coarser, in-your-face moments.

It might help if Barrymore and Long -- an on-again, off-again couple in real life -- conveyed a stronger emotional bond onscreen.

But their ambivalence turns out to be contagious, giving "Going the Distance" a believable, yet hardly compelling, romance at its center.

That leaves the cut-ups on the fringes of the action -- especially the hilariously crass Day and the snippy, quippy Applegate -- to steal the central couple's focus every chance they get.

Still, Barrymore's self-deprecating charm and Long's puppy-dog earnestness make for a reasonably pleasant, if hardly memorable cinematic journey.

Their characters may wind up going the distance, but the movie they're in never really knows where it's trying to go.

Contact movie critic Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.