If you want proof that the American romantic comedy is in a dismal state, trapped halfway between apology and experiment, you need look no further than "Going the Distance," which features real-life couple Drew Barrymore and Justin Long as a likable young recession-era duo separated by a continent, a lack of funds and a cloudy future. I don't mean that this movie is strikingly good or strikingly bad, in cosmic terms -- it's a solid but totally forgettable entertainment, redeemed somewhat by Barrymore's loud, horsey laugh and some agreeably racy comic situations.

Abstraction is where genres go to die. In the post-"Bourne" era, the idea of a lone operative working in the shadows, holing up in rustic European towns while dodging impeccably cutthroat, improbably glamorous enemies, seems almost quaint, even kitschy -- the cloak-and-dagger equivalent of a Hummel figurine. A hired killer, living by his own eccentric but determined code of ethics? How utterly darling.

The mother of "The Brady Bunch," a former NFL quarterback, one of the self-proclaimed "guidos" from "Jersey Shore" and the daughter of Sarah Palin are among the celebrities who will cha-cha-cha on the 11th season of "Dancing with the Stars."

In this week’s magazine, Amy Wilentz writes about the upcoming Presidential election in Haiti, where a million people are still homeless or semi-homeless after the January 12th earthquake. The disaster brought destruction but also inspiration: here are some works of art made by Haitian artists since the quake.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced last week that Jean-Luc Godard would be given an honorary Oscar at a non-televised ceremony in November, along with Eli Wallach and film preservationist Kevin Brownlow. Normally such a move would prompt a number of questions, such as: Would Godard, a famously anti-Hollywood filmmaker, accept or decline such an award?  If he accepted, would Godard even show up, and if he showed up, what would he say? Would he hector the room about the corporatization of cinema, which is even more pernicious now than it was 50 years ago, when Godard made the jump from Marxist film critic to new wave filmmaker?  Or would Godard, who has been vocal in supporting the Palestinians against the Israelis, and has been accused of anti-Semitism throughout much of his career, pull a Vanessa Redgrave?

What a night! "Mad Men" wins the Emmy for outstanding drama, Don Draper wins the Clio for his Glo Coat campaign, and Peggy wins a major victory against dismissive art director Stan Rizzo -- which inspires him to bestow upon her the "prize for smuggest bitch in the world."

"You know I love you more when you're cold and heartless," says Eric tenderly to Pam. It's a lovely moment, like "Casablanca" starring vampires. And it's the first time in a few episodes that Eric has been something more than, as Russell puts it "just a lump of muscle with a blood grudge." Or in the words of the disenchanted pole dancer/cardiologist Yvetta, "big, long and stupid."

The Oscars have arguably bigger stars, and the Golden Globes have an international je ne sais quois. But the Emmys, well, where else are you going to get Kim Kardashian, Jewel and Jack Kevorkian together in the same room? Saaayyyy….

Let’s say you hear James Brown records as a teen-ager, as Gabriel Roth, the leader of the band Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, did. You may decide that there is no better template for making an entire band play in rhythmic unison, creating motion and a . . .

paragraph class="noindent">The name Momofuku—as in David Chang’s epochal East Village restaurant—means “lucky peach” in Japanese. And Má Pêche means not “my peach” in French, as you might suppose, but “mother peach” in Vietnamese . . .

In May of 1939, Ralph Ellison, who was twenty-six at the time, asked an old man hanging out in Eddie’s Bar, on St. Nicholas Avenue near 147th Street, “Do you like living in New York City?” The man said: Ahm in New York, but New . . .

The character of Lenore on HBO’s “Hung”—a sad and humorous fable about a lower-middle-class man at the mercy of everyone else’s idea of masculinity in an economically challenged world—is a pimp who indulges her dogs more readily than . . .

PageBreak --> OPENINGS AND PREVIEWS Please call the phone number listed with the theatre for timetables and ticket information. BOTTOM OF THE WORLD Atlantic Theatre Company presents the première of a play by Lucy Thurber (“Scarcity”), directed by Caitriona McLaughlin, about a young woman dealing with . . .

goatTitle-->MCNALLY JACKSON BOOKS A. L. Kennedy reads from her latest collection of short stories, “What Becomes.” (52 Prince St. No tickets necessary. Sept. 6 at 7.) 92ND STREET Y Arianna Huffington discusses her new book about the state of the country, “Third World America.&#8221 . . .

ART DRAWING POWER Sept. 11-Nov. 18 It’s hard to believe that Gerhard Richter has never had a major drawing show in the U.S. The Drawing Center remedies this with “Lines Which Do Not Exist,” a selection of abstractions in graphite, watercolor, and ink. (212-219-2166.) THE . . .

PageBreak --> ROCK AND POP Musicians and night-club proprietors live complicated lives; it’s advisable to check in advance to confirm engagements. THE ACHERON 57 Waterbury St., Brooklyn (No phone)—Occupying the home of the now defunct Bushwick Music Studios, this raw space opened its doors in . . .

PageBreak --> OPENINGS THE AMERICAN George Clooney stars in this thriller, directed by Anton Corbijn, about a hit man in Italy who is distracted from his mission by romance. Opening Sept. 1. (In wide release.) ETIENNE! A comedy, directed by Jeff Mizushima, about a man whose best friend, a . . .

goatTitle-->SENS PRODUCTION / “MELT” Noémie Lafrance, who has situated her spectacles in a downtown clock tower, a Lower East Side parking garage, and the dry McCarren Park Pool and atop Frank Gehry’s curvy concert hall at Bard, expands an earlier, simpler piece in another . . .

PageBreak --> CONCERTS IN TOWN MET SUMMER HD FESTIVAL Sept. 1 at 7:45: To wind down the summer—and stoke interest for the fall season—the Metropolitan Opera presents a series of free opera screenings in Lincoln Center Plaza, which concludes this week. Wednesday’s showing is . . .