Movie Review - 'Going The Distance'

Going The Distance Starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long Directed by Nanette Burstein Rated R

A filmmaker myself, I always try to remain impartial when going to see a movie. Despite my wildest efforts, however, my expectations for Going The Distance, the story of a couple who have a six-week summer romance in New York City, and then attempt a prolonged long-distance relationship across the country, were pretty low.  The upside about this film, directed by Nanette Burstein, who produced, wrote, directed, and edited the fabulous adolescent documentary American Teen, is that if you walk in to the theater like I did, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Drew Barrymore’s character, Erin, is a spunky, modern, every-woman, who despite her short-comings in terms of career, does not take the obvious, depressive turn for the melodramatic. Writer Geoff LaTulippe does a wonderful job developing Erin’s intricacies, desires, and indulgences and crafts a character that is as imperfect as she is likable. Barrymore, of course, deserves her credit for this as well, and it is nice to finally see her in a role that audiences can actually care about. Her love interest, Garret, played by Justin Long, is a less dimensional character, but Long’s charm overcomes the text, and the on-screen romance between the two really does work.

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Box Office - Jason and the Also-Rans

It looks like those Jason Voorhees fans got most of their curiosities satisfied early. Even though Friday the 13th opened with a whopping $19.3 million on Friday, the film struggled the rest of the weekend, particularly on Sunday. Still, a $42 million three-day total isn't bad at all, however, $50 million over the four-day President's Day weekend seems hard to believe.

While Jason would've won the weekend with a much less robust Friday, two other films played pretty competitively - last week's top two finishers, He's Just Not That Into You and Taken . Taken continues to amaze me. Without real star power, the Liam Neeson revenge flick has lost 18% of its audience from the first to the second weekends and an absurd 6% in its third stanza. The average drop is somewhere between 25 - 35% on the second weekend, and a little less than that the next. Box Office Mojo reports that the weekend's other new releases, Confessions of a Shopaholic and The International couldn't quite perform up to their expectations, collecting $15 and $10 million respectively.

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Box Office - 'Friday the 13th' Owns Friday the 13th

Nearly doubling its project Friday box office, Friday the 13th left no doubt as to what movie is the preferred choice over the four-day weekend. Earning $19 million in one day, according to Box Office Mojo estimates, means a likely $50 million-plus debut, which in turn means that Jason Voorhees might finally join the century club.

Friday the 13th earned about four times as much as anything else, and its big opening day was certainly a surprise. More than likely, it's one of those movie that will have a huge first day and taper off after that; I think it's unlikely that the numbers would go up from $19 million. Still, the other new releases felt the sting, with Confessions of a Shopaholic and The International earning just over four and just under three million each. Neither film cracked the top three and The International may not make it into the top five this weekend, thanks to strong performances by He's Just Not That Into You ($5 million) and Taken ($4.67 million).

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Fearless Forecast - Jason Kills 'em All

Almost instinctively, I'm saying that Friday the 13th is going to dominate the weekend box office. And then I think about it, and I think it's going to be even more dominating..er...ing. You see, it's not just a reboot of one of those classic franchises, one that will continue to convert young fans, but it's also the only movie aimed at young moviegoers right now, so they ought to respond with their always frivolous spending.

That's not to say Confessions of a Shopaholic won't make money. It'll do fine, and it could even fare surprisingly well if a lot of single women band together on Valentine's Day weekend and see it in large groups. But there's a big audience split between this film and He's Just Not That Into You, and that, couple with the clear advantage Friday the 13th has in theater numbers, will keep Shopaholic from going toe-to- toe with Jason. I once held out hope that The International could be a box office hit. It seems smarter than the other two films, it's got a great cast, and it's timely. Perhaps it's too timely, though. The action thriller about corrupt banks may hit too close to home, and that might help explain why Sony is only releasing this in 2,300 theaters.

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Box Office - 'Into You' Wins, 'Taken' Holds Strong

Although He's Just Not That Into You claimed the top spot at the box office this weekend, I think the real story is Taken. Last week's number one film only dropped one position this weekend - despite four new movies in theaters - and kept a remarkable 82% of its audience from the previous stanza. It's typical for a film to lose 40 or 50% of its audience between the first and second weekends, so this tells us the word got out about the Liam Neeson revenge movie, which now appears headed for at least $80 million in U.S. ticket sales. Box Office Mojo reports that Into You earned $27 million this weekend, slightly more than was expected, but certainly not a number that anyone thought was outside the realm of possibility. In fact, the other new releases provided more surprises, with the animated Coraline, easily the film with the least mass appeal of the four, landing in third place with $16 million. Dakota Fanning's other film, Push, died a quick death, only managing $10 million. And The Pink Panther 2, a sore subject around these parts, also had an underwhelming debut, winding up in fourth place, barely ahead of the month-old Paul Blart: Mall Cop. The Top Five:
1 - He's Just Not That Into You ($27.5 million)
2 - Taken ($20 million)
3 - Coraline ($16 million)
4 - The Pink Panther 2 ($12 million)
5 - Paul Blart - $11 million