The topic of love and relationships is a loaded one. It's full of drama, angst, joy -- basically a smorgasbord of complex emotions that, no matter how serious and life-changing, can also be rife for comedic interpretation.

One such interpretation is Drew Barrymore and Justin Long's R-rated romp "Going the Distance," which opens Friday. In the film, the are-they-or-aren't-they-dating Barrymore and Long play a new couple who try to make a long-distance relationship work. There are expensive plane tickets, romantic gestures, arguments, etc.

Speaking to the romantic gestures, because there are a few in the film, we asked Barrymore and Long if they had ever had one backfire.

"I once got sent an e-mail that was written in a sarcastic tone, but the person buried the lead and didn't say he was joking," Barrymore said of an ex's attempt at a love letter. "So everything in it was as horrible as you can imagine. That wasn't funny. That was a really poorly executed romantic gesture. I remember another boyfriend, he bought me a cameo [silhouette pendant], and he said it reminded him of me. And I thought, 'This old, silhouetted lady reminds you of me? Huh. OK.' "

Long (who was not the giver of the aforementioned cameo) revealed that his good-intentions-gone-bad gesture involved an unfortunate mix-up of an ex's preference in flowers.

"This was actually a Valentine's Day thing," he said. "I went to the florist, and I saw these amazing orchids. There were, like, six orchids. It was tons of money ... but I thought, 'I'm going to do it. These are beautiful, and I'm pretty sure this person loves orchids,' " Long recalled. "I brought them home. She was always so appreciative of just the smallest gestures I did, so I was like, 'Her head's going to explode.' "

Unfortunately for Long, his memory was a little skewed. "She was like [he winces] 'I ... oh ... thank you,' " Long re-enacted. "She had this story that was like a really troubling, traumatic experience that had happened to her that involved orchids that she had told me. I knew there was something with orchids, I just didn't remember that it was an awful association. It was bad. She was molested by a guy named Fred Orchid," he joked.

Have you had any romantic gestures go bad? Share your memories in the comments!

Check out everything we've got on "Going the Distance."

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