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 has ruled over comedies in Hollywood for over a decade. With his rise in the industry, he has continued to produce other projects and has curated comedic opportunities for faces you now see heavily in the genre. This time, the unlikely face is Charlize Theron, who has been having an amazing past five years, takes a stab at comedy with Rogen. The duo are overlooked by director Johnathan Levine who had a pretty up and down directorial decade from the surprise hit “50/50” to the less critically acclaimed film “Snatched.” “Long Shot” falls into the middle of his spectrum and delivers a middle of the road rom-com that you’ve seen before, but slightly better.
Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron have really good chemistry throughout the film. Seth Rogen plays Fred Flarsky who is an ex-daring news reporter who was babysat by Charlotte Field (Theron) when he was a teen. Field is now the frontrunner for the President of the United States in the next election and starts to fall for Flarsky when she hires him to be her speechwriter. The two actors have amazing chemistry that cannot be ignored. Rogen pretty much plays the same character he has been playing for years while Theron gets out of her “gritty” action hero box of recent years and gives a charismatic performance as Field. We get amazing and funny supporting help from Bob Odenkirk, Ravi Patel, and June Diane Raphel. There is a surprise performance from Andy Serkis that lends well to the film. I do think the character O’Shea Jackson plays, an over-the-top caricature of the main character’s best friend, sort of takes me out of the movie. The overall jokes on the other hand, for the most part, land and the movie does not lack Seth Rogen’s crude humor one bit. Many running gags and NSFW jokes carry the film to the very end.
I do think the story itself is by the numbers and the third act especially gets overly trope and falls into the same beat-by-beat story you have seen a thousand times. The story itself being set in the backdrop of an international campaign does lend to some uniqueness and different scenarios. Overall, you know what type of narrative you are getting in this film. Jonathan Levine himself as a director is pretty run-of-the-mill and doesn’t do anything out of the box for this movie. The technical elements are pretty basic as is the story.
In conclusion, “Long Shot” is the romantic comedy you are very familiar with and a plethora of laughs throughout. Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen are great and are surrounded by a cast who hold their own very well minus Jackson in my opinion. I do think it is better than your usual rom-com and should be checked out this summer.
In theaters Friday, May 3rd
