Going the Distance

It's no secret that I love romantic comedies. I'm pretty sure I've started other blog posts with that exact sentence, so it's also no secret that I know it's not a secret. Ever since I saw the trailer for Going the Distance, I knew I had to see it as soon as possible. Rarely do movies come out that are so made for me.

Firstly and most importantly, I LOVE Drew Barrymore. I love everything about her. Mostly I love that, no matter what movie she's in, it seems like she picked out her own wardrobe. Her clothes are so wacky! She dresses like a five year old whose mother is like, "I'm tired, wear what you want" and so she just piles on the sparkle and camo with stripes or whatever.
All of the other things I love about this movie are summed up really well in Owen Gleiberman's EW review, which you can read here if you so wish. I agreed wholeheartedly with the Gleibs (as I do about half the time) when he wrote this:

Going the Distance is a light and tasty morsel of a romantic comedy in which two smart, funny, and basically sweet people try to conduct a cross-country relationship. The movie, which sounds like it was spun out of an advice column, is very high-concept, except that it has a gently authentic tone, a flavor rooted in its affection for the shrewd innocence of the 1980s. For the first 15 minutes or so, I actually wondered if it was set in the '80s....After two love montages set to the Cure's ''Just Like Heaven'' and the Pretenders' ''Don't Get Me Wrong,'' I began to think: Between this feel-good '80s jukebox and the fact that no one in the film has yet sent a text message, which year is this?...As it turns out, Going the Distance is quite contemporary, but the wistful retro vibe is no accident. The director, Nanette Burstein, is...out to take us back to an earlier vibe — to a time when pop music was optimistic, and so were movie romances. Erin and Garrett don't just fall into glorified lust. They fall in love because they like each other's company.

He's right; this is VERY much like an 80's romantic comedy. The montages are so montage-y it's almost laughable (I mean, they are dancing on a beach!), which I really like. If you're going to do a montage, you might as well go whole-hog and just do it up right. There's no such thing as a subtle montage, anyway.
Going the Distance was also a lot more realistic than most romantic comedies, which is both a pro and a con. H did not like that the movie's humor skewed blue (this movie is like 95% made up of dick jokes) because he thought it seemed out of place in what he called a "chick flick." I didn't agree though, and not just because I don't use the term chick flick (barf, sorry). The characters talked to each other basically like real people talk to each other. My friends and I spend about 50% of our time talking about sex and the other 50% talking about our jobs, and I think that's pretty typical, so I found those relationships to be accurately depicted. The relationship between Justin Long and Drew Barrymore's characters was believable, too, and not just because Justin Long's character reminded me so much of H (without all the womanizing).
I loved this movie. It has some of my favorite romantic comedy conventions (including the whole "How can this person have their brilliant career AND the love of their life??" conundrum) while also being genuinely funny and believable. And I can't leave out the importance of Jason Sudekis, Charlie Day, Jim Gaffigan, and Mike Birbiglia, who all took the movie to the next level (the next level being the funnier one).
And MOST importantly, one of Drew Barrymore's New York friends is played by Natalie Morales, the girl who plays Aziz's girlfriend on Parks and Rec. H tried to tell me I was wrong but I knew I was right. Suck on that.

While You Were Sleeping

About a month ago, Lexie and I watched Lost Highway. Maybe someday I'll attempt to write about it, but NOT TODAY. The point is, I learned something about myself when I watched Lost Highway. For 23 years, I hadn't given Bill Pullman a second thought. Then, at some point during the movie, I realized that he was my dream guy. I'm not sure why. I think it was the jazz sax.

Anyway, as soon as Alex's Matrix pulled out of the Winfrey family drive, I set about rearranging my Netflix queue. The first pick? While You Were Sleeping, starring Mr. Bill Pullman and a young Sandra Bullock.
I can't lie to you: I really enjoyed this movie! It has a plot like every good romantic comedy...implausible at best, completely ludicrous at worst. It goes like this: Sandra Bullock is lonely. The film takes the familiar creative writing workshop adage "Show, Don't Tell" to heart and shows us about 15 different ways Sandra Bullock is a cliche of a lonely person. She works on holidays! She lives alone! Both of her parents are dead! She has a cat! She talks to her cat! It doesn't take a genius (or a romantic comedy scholar like me) to figure out that Sandy's life needs a little shaking up. Luckily for her, her secret crush Peter Gallagher shows up to ride the train one day (did I mention she works at a token booth? Well, she does) and gets pushed onto the tracks by some hoodlums who then run away and are never heard from again. Sandra Bullock immediately springs into action and jumps onto the track. All the while, a train is speeding towards them while deceptively lighthearted music plays and Sandra Bullock says things like, "Please wake up! There's a train coming toward us! It's going very fast!" Like, duh, Sandra Bullock, and also move. Finally she rolls both herself and Peter Gallagher to safety, and that's where her trouble actually begins. Naturally, Peter Gallagher is in a coma, and naturally, a mix-up causes his entire family to believe that Sandra Bullock is his fiancee. Naturally, she is unable to tell them otherwise, because the 1st rule of Romantic Comedy Club is Never Say the Truth! Not even when it would actually be really simple.
Then Peter Gallagher's brother Bill Pullman bursts onto the scene, lookin' like a million bucks in his reversible denim/Carhartt jacket and his all flannel, all the time shirt collection.

She's holding a cat because she's lonely. He's wearing that jacket because it's a damn fine look for him.
I want to be all like, "Ugh, those clothes, right guys? Bill Pullman's jeans were unflattering and that jacket is silly!" But honestly, if I saw Bill Pullman walking around town looking like that (like maybe at the public library is where I would see that look), I would do a double take! He knows what looks good on him, and as far as I'm concerned, if Bill Pullman's got it, Bill Pullman should flaunt it.
While I did love this movie, there were a lot of flaws. Like the idea that Sandra Bullock would ever in any way find Peter Gallagher attractive.

No offense meant to Peter Gallagher, but let's get real.
Would I like this movie if Bill Pullman was not in it? No. But he is, so let's not even think about it. He brings a certain je ne sais quoi to the role...except actually, I DO sais quoi. He growls about half of his words. "I do(growl)n't think you're Pe(growl)ter's type." More actors should growl.
It looks like the movie is on Youtube (in English AND Spanish. Lucky you!). If you've just got a few minutes to spare, maybe try one of the many musical montages that weirdos have created. I do have to say, although she certainly was living in a lonely world, Sandra Bullock was no small town girl.