National Lampoons Going The Distance

Posted In: Going The Distance

Cecelia Shoats says...

I first heard about Easy A from Entertainment Weekly, which didn't give it that great of a grade. But when Saturday night rolled around and I didn't have anything to do, I thought why not spend a night at the movie theater. Easy A was the only thing at the theater that didn't involve talking owls, animated dogs, a murderer, or Betty White so it won by default. Yet after seeing it, I think this movie stands on its own and doesn't need to be someone's default.



The story follows a high school student named Olive who isn't the most popular girl in school but isn't really looking to be the talk of the school. When the weekend comes, her best friend invites her to go camping but Olive just wants to spend the weekend at home. Olive decides to lie to her friend and tells her that she has a date that weekend. At school on Monday, Olive's best friend pesters Olive about her imaginary date until Olive says that they had sex. Word gets around school and suddenly Olive is the talk of the high school. One of Olive's friends hears about the rumor which Olive confesses is not true. However, her friend does not care for he is being bullied about being gay and wants to prove to the school that he's not. So he and Olive attend a popular party where they secure and room and pretend to have sex so that entire party can hear. The next day at school the rumors about the boy's sexuality are cast aside while Olive becomes the main attraction. Olive continues to have fake sex with numerous boys in school so that it will help their reputation. Yet, the backlash causes Olive to become ostracized as she finds that though she believes she is helping these boys, she is not being true to herself.



First let me get out of the way my complaints with the film, which are few:

1. the plot is a bit contrived

2. the acting is not exceptional

3. the connection between the students reading The Scarlett Letter and Olive's being ostracized (to the point of wearing a scarlet A) is about a subtle as an anvil falling on one's head



But many tween movies are criticized for the same problems in script and acting, so I don't want to elaborate more on it here. Still, the good in this film completely outweighs the bad. These are a few of the things that I think separate this film from other asinine dopey chick flix:

1. this is NOT (thank god) a coming of age tale

2. there is little romance and some good comedy

3. it is not self righteous in its message



I think that the message of this film is very good and not something that you see everyday. Most teen films are about falling in love with the person you thought you hated (when does that ever really happen?) or being led astray by the glitter and false happiness of popularity. However, this movie is about how doing something that seems altruistic can actually come back to hurt you and others. It's about helping others while never losing your sense of self. And who doesn't like a couple chuckles while learning a solid life lesson? I certainly do!

Posted on April 15, 2011

Homer Orris says...

A fun movie. Could just as well have been a fun movie of the week. The old "uncontrollable sex-crazed youth" has been done to death. A little too much of it in this movie. There were a few disgusting parts (of the movie, I mean), but I guess that is a matter of taste. There is one part at the dinner table, with the farmer and his daughter, that goes beyond the pale. Using the dinner prayer , while the daughter "does her thing" kind of soiled the enjoyment for me.Having said that, a lot of beautiful people trapse up to Canada so the one star crossed ex-virgin can propose to his snobby snooty girlfriend. The sabatoge attempts were ok, but one of the enjoyable parts was that of the characters who played Chritopher Jacots' parents. They did not have enough screentime in this campy yet enjoyable, forgettable movie.



The adventers, comedic forays, with just the right amount of "he should bewith this girl, not the one he thinks he is in love with" made me give this movie barely a -3-. If I can edit out one part, this is a keeper.

Posted on April 15, 2011

Jannet Wittry says...

Easy A is about Olive, an average high-school girl who, to get out of a camping trip with her best friend, decides to make up a lie that she's going out with a college guy that weekend.After the rumor spins out of control as the school's Christian mean girl gets a hold of it, she tells everyone!Olive decides to use the rumor as an advantage as people pay her to say that she slept with them.



Easy A is a fantastic movie.It's a comedy-drama that's a mix of the witty dialogue of Juno (You'll be quoting the movie after you're done) with the theme of popularity from Mean Girls along with the Christianity of Saved!The character's are extremely likable.Emma Stone and Amanda Bynes are probably the best characters in this movie along with Olive's parents.The plot deals greatly on today's issues of sexuality and the pressure's of having sex before you're ready.The ending felt rushed but, the rest of the movie was so well done, it didn't have an effect on the rating.I give this movie an Easy five stars!



The special features included on the DVD and Bluray seem like a great extra for the lovers of this movie.

Posted on April 16, 2011

Lorretta Vandersteen says...

Well, I for one really liked this movie. It is like a canadian version of Road Trip, and the characters are pretty cliche, especially tyler, but other than that I really liked it! Lots of good scenery and good laughs. I really think you should buy this movie

Posted on April 17, 2011

Katia Roan says...

National Lampoons has always had the ability to put out mixed films. Some are good stupid and some are too stupid to even sit through like their genius movie Adam and Eve, which I turned off after 10 minutes. Here comes Going the distance which actually has some notable moments but most of them I can't write on Amazon. Going the Distance is about a teen named Nick who looks more like a 29 year old. Nick just got a special gift from his girlfriend on the night before she goes off to Toronto to intern for a slimy record executive who likes to take advantage of young interns. His girl doesn't tell him until the next day and Nick has no choice but to let her go.



A few hours later Nick decides to fly to Toronto and ask her to marry him but not before his friends and parents (who absolutely hate his girlfriend) force nick to have a few going away drinks. Somehow Nick's mom slips him something to make him pass out and when Nick wakes up he is in his trailer and his friends surprise him by taking a road trip to Toronto.This movie is actually enjoyable but it could be way better if they picked a couple of better actors. Christopher Jacot playing the lead character Nick doesn't really fit him. I actually would have liked to seen Ryan Reynolds play Nick but he probably had better things to do. Chris was a dry actor for a National Lampoon film and he drops the films worth. The supporting characters were ok but you can feel the need for one more crazy character to boost the movies excitement. There wasn't enough funny stuff going on in this movie, just a little here and a little there. Going the distance is worth seeing if you have nothing else to do and nothing else to watch and you'll definitely get a few laughs, especially on the farmer's table scene.

Posted on April 17, 2011

Margie Maniatis says...

althought i am not 18 my parents allowd me 2 watch it andi loved it. quite cool i say.

Posted on April 18, 2011

Alona Gremmels says...

this was the biggest waste of four bucks and two hours i have ever spent. national lampoon movies are supposed to be classically funny, and even though this seemed teen-movie genre (in the american pie tradition), i thought it would be fun to have playing in the background while i worked on an art project.

not only is this NOT funny and NOT sexy, the movie is completely pointless and the characters boring/trite.

i'm a bit too young to wish for the chevy chase days of national lampoon, but i can say that i feel this movie was a disgrace in representing my generation. & based on watching this, i will probably never rent another national lampoon movie w/o chase in it.

Posted on April 18, 2011

Adele Amador says...

I'm the kind of fellow who would view a foreign film with subtitles than watch a formulaic Hollywood production.But on a recommendation, I went to see this movie, and my time was not wasted.The reason it works so well is that the star Emma Stone (as Olive Penderghast) naturally communicates intelligence, charm, and old fashioned girl charisma. By the end of the film, we're not sure whether we want her as a virgin..or not.



Now that we are in the 21st century, the meaning of Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter" - the "A" - which stands for adultery is far less scandalous.So when Olive daringly sews such a letter on her dress (over her breast, no less) she communicates a vibrant sexuality. But is that good or bad?



Our heroine is going to high school in a conservative part of Southern California. When Olive tells a white lie that she had a teenage affair, voila...she becomes the "gossip of the day";Suddenly this reclusive girl becomes the one female that everyone notices.Being of good heart - as opposed to her fundamentalist Christian nemesis - she uses this new power to help others' reputations, such as a gay student who is constantly bullied for being so.(The scene where she misleads her classmates to believe she is having 'wild sex" with the gay fellow is hilarious).



The themes of the movie - how society perceives sexuality -how an individual develops a sense of self worth = are important ones.And those themes are handled fluidly by the good ensemble cast. For example, Stanley Tucci as her liberal minded parent is a hoot. (When her mom says that she is starting to look like a hooker, her dad remarks, yes...but a high class hooker.I guess most of us don't have parents "that" open minded.) So for those who "hate" teen comedies...you may be making a mistake by missing this one.

Posted on April 19, 2011

Elizabet Kuciemba says...

This is as bad as Out Cold. I think most viewers, even if they just want dumb fun, will find this movie insulting to their intelligence. I guess maybe it's just a movie to watch while drinking with friends. Your brain would have to be completely turned off to be entertained by it. It's template derived, an endless string of cliches. The kind of script that draws inspiration from other movies rather than from real life or a creative imagination. The basic plot outline of a guy making an emergency trip across the country to save his relationship, while falling for another girl in the process, is ripped off of Road Trip who ripped it off of Overnight Delivery. Only in this movie instead of the other girl being wilder and broadening the guy's horizons she's more conservative, I guess a testament to the conservative mentality behind this film. The added bit of having to save the girlfriend from a sleazy record executive type = Wayne's World. The picking up girls who subject the unwitting guy to violent bondage = Tomcats. The popsickle scene was the only remotely clever part. If it was just the girl licking the popsickle seductively to tease the boy it would be really dumb, but because the guy was doing it too it had a certain inane random charm to it that I liked.

It's pretty tragic to think that hundreds of people spent months working on this. The only real problem is the script. It's a professional looking movie as far as the actors and cameras go, but it's all wasted effort because of the weak script. It's like building a mansion on a sinkhole.

Posted on April 20, 2011

Marcella Raisler says...

I'm not too fond of National Lampoon's films, but this one was actually a Canadian film first. It's not bad. You have your average breasts and gross-out sexual humor (a staple of any teen sex comedy) In the end it's sweet and has a heart. Avril Lavigne's cameo is horrible, and as an American, I enjoyed seeing the sights of Canada.

Posted on April 22, 2011