When Fred Flarsky reunites with his first crush, one of the most influential women in the world, Charlotte Field, he charms her. As she prepares to make a run for the Presidency, Charlotte hires Fred as her speechwriter and sparks fly.
Seth Rogen is very hit and miss for me. I liked him in “This Is the End,” “50/50,” and “Superbad” but didn’t care for “Neighbors,” “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising,” or “The Interview.” His style of humor, depending on your current mood, can either be grating, or hilarious, sometimes a little of both but in “Long Shot,” his humor is more mature and thankfully, so is his performance. Charlize Theron is perfect as the U.S. Secretary of State who decides to make a run for the presidency and together, more than sparks fly.
Charlotte Field (Theron) is the U.S. Secretary of State and has a very close bond to President Chambers (Bob Odenkirk), who halfway through his first term, decides that he will not seek a second term, instead, he wants to return to the world of TV and movies, where he hailed from. Charlotte casually mentions to him that she had been thinking about making a run for the presidency in 2020 and he states that if she does, he will endorse her. Ecstatic, she decides to quietly work on her campaign with her two key staffers, Maggie (June Diane Raphael) and Tom (Ravi Patel), trying to decide when she will quit her current position as the Secretary of State and work fulltime on her campaign.
While at a public event one evening, across a crowded room, she locks eyes with Fred Flarsky (Rogen). When Fred’s best friend Lance (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) sees this and asks what’s going on, Fred states that he knows her. Naturally, Lance thinks he’s joking but Fred recounts an embarrassing story when he was a teenager that included him, his babysitter Charlotte, and a rather humiliating and accidental erection. Charlotte’s bodyguard approaches Fred and asks him to meet with her.
When they come face to face, Charlotte stares at him and says she feels like she knows him and when he reminds her, they both have a great laugh. After a brief conversation where he tells her he is a journalist, they part ways. Later on, though, Charlotte looks up some of his articles and really likes them. She informs Maggie that she would like to offer him a job as her speechwriter and while Maggie clearly disapproves, Charlotte notes her objection but is adamant about bringing him on board.
He travels with them around the world as Charlotte tries to sign as many countries as possible to a historic environmental initiative that she truly believes the world will benefit from but as they spend more and more time together, naturally, they fall for each other. They try to hide their relationship from the world, especially Maggie but she can see right through it. When she tries to talk to Charlotte about everything, stating that when she becomes the first female President of the United States, having a boyfriend like Fred, a very outspoken and unfettered journalist by her side, will prove a very difficult sell to the voters.
Of course, this reminds Charlotte that her run for the presidency is more important than anything else going on in her life and although she and Fred have been doing so well together, they end up separating. As they both try to get on with their lives devoid of each other, they find it frustratingly difficult but when it is brought to Charlotte’s attention that a video of Fred masturbating to a video of her making one of her speeches is about to surface, unless she drops the environmental initiative, which, apparently, didn’t go over too well with the President and some of his financial backers, she must make a decision that will affect her for the rest of her life.
Political comedies these days are not always a surefire hit, depending on which side of the aisle you fall on. Thankfully, director Jonathan Levine infuses “Long Shot” with enough non-political comicality and witticisms that you realize much of the humor is not politically-themed but rather, takes place within the confines of a political narrative. The title of the movie jokingly refers to the odds of someone like Fred Flarsky and Charlotte Field (or Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron if you will) hooking up together in real life and while most would say it could not happen, watching their undeniable onscreen chemistry actually gives you pause for thought. And that’s a good thing!
In theaters Friday, May 3rd
