Published: 09 September 2010
by DAN CARRIER

THE long-distance love affair has been ably covered in such films as When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless In Seattle, and this 30-something achy love story treads a well-worn path with sure-footed ease.

It stars Drew Barrymore as a journalist intern named Erin, who is spending a summer at a New York newspaper. She falls for record label A&R man Garrett (Justin Long) but despite spending a rather lovely six weeks together, the fact is Erin lives in San Francisco and so anything long-term is problematic. We watch as the pair rack up the carbon footprint, get jealous when the other goes out in their home town, make poor attempts at phone sex and generally bellyache about how hard it is to be into someone who is a few thousand miles away.

At times, it feels like the director wanted to tap right into a current zeitgeist: this is a credit crunch rom-com. Whereas such films would once have the couple’s successful careers keeping them apart, this time it is because Barrymore’s character wants desperately to be a journalist in New York but is told by every paper in the Big Apple that they are laying people off, not taking them on. Garrett is a music exec on a trendy label, and the comment made on his occupation centres on the fact labels no longer want to nurture talent that might make artistically interesting music, but instead are only interested in a boy band called 3Z who are rubbish but will be in the charts. 

While there are some nice touches, and the couple make a believable pair (neither are too attractive, and that makes you feel like they may be real human beings – a regular and typical failing of rom-coms is the leads are day-dream hot) you will leave the oh-so-obvious ending feeling that the pair deserve to be together as they are both quite boring people.

Where is the snap in the dialogue and the whoosh in the chemistry? At times this seems like it has taken the most annoying traits of the “mumblecore” genre – weak-kneed bores who need a kick in the pants while they drone on and on about how rubbish life in America is – and then married it with a sickly mainstream rom-com plot.

But when things get a little too stodgy there are some terrific gags. ­Garrett’s buddy Dan (Charlie Day) is a smelly loser, the cranky fat sidekick these films like to cast against their romantic lead to give some light relief to the proceedings. In one rather good recurring joke he listens to Garrett and Erin’s blossoming relationship through the walls of their flat – and chooses suitable tunes to play to match their moods. 

It’s an interesting way to select a soundtrack, and provides a quick and easy giggle. 

Barrymore essentially plays herself but there is a comic trait in her kooky expressions and the way she rolls foul language around her mouth like a fine wine before spouting it in every direction that makes me giggle. So while this does nothing more than it says on the tin, it does what it sets out to do pretty well.