ENTERTAINMENT
CINEMA
22
Going the Distance
SCREEN TEST: DREW BARRYMORE
Drew Barrymore, Justin Long
STARRING:
RT 102 MINS
1 What is the name of Barrymore’s film production company? 2 Who starred in Barrymore’s directorial debut about a female roller derby team? 3 Who are Barrymore’s godparents? 4 What character did Barrymore play in her breakthrough 1981 role? 5 Who is Barrymore’s current on-off partner?
★★★★★
Real-life lovers traditionally do not make convincing onscreen couples, so it’s a welcome surprise, then, that on-off pair Drew Barrymore and Justin Long generate great chemistry in Going the Distance, a strong candidate for the most enjoyable rom-com of the year so far. Long plays record company worker Garrett who starts a relationship in New York with wannabe writer Erin (Barrymore). The two click like Lego but soon Erin has to head back to San Francisco and the couple have to face up to the pain and insecurity of a long-distance relationship. Refreshingly, the film is largely devoid of contrived plot-twists that are so prevalent in the rom-com genre. Most of the emotions
the couple experience feel real, something that is helped by Barrymore and Long’s believable performances. True, director Nanette Burstein shoe-horns in some needless gross-out scenes that are at odds with the subtlety that
precedes it, but Barrymore and Long are such charming leads, this is well worth checking out for those who have tried to keep a fledgling relationship going over the phone. GOOD FOR: Romantics. PIERRE DE VILLIERS
THE REEL DEAL Kiwi True Blood star Anna Paquin will have a cameo in Scream 4, now shooting in Michigan. The Wes Craven project has a top-secret script, but those in the know say the cameo is of a similar nature to that of Drew Barrymore’s in the original Scream. USA Today broke the news of Paquin’s cameo. Apparently The Hollywood Reporter already knew of the cameo, but complied with a request not to reveal it as a service to movie fans.
LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS 1 Michael Scott
2 The 40-year-old Virgin 3 Evan Baxter 4 Mel Brooks and Buck Henry 5 Toni Collete LAST WEEK’S WINNER Anita Cumberbatch
THE LAST EXORCISM
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THE RUNAWAYS
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Jessica Miglio, Getty Images
Mel Gibson may be suffering one of the worst media scandals of his career, but apparently it’s having a relatively small impact on the Aussie film star’s box office pull in the United States. According to a poll in the US by 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair, more than three quarters of respondents said they would not be affected by audiotapes of phone calls, widely reported to be Gibson (pictured) ranting at his estranged exgirlfriend, when deciding whether to see one of the Oscar winner’s films.
For a chance to win a copy of After.life, starring Christina Ricci and Liam Neeson, out on DVD and Blu-ray on Sep 6, email answers to grabs@ tntmagazine. com by noon on Wed with ‘After’ in the subject line.
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