Review: Long Shot

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

PLOT: An unemployed journalist, Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen), is hired as a speech-writer for the Secretary of State, Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron), who just so happens to be his former childhood babysitter and a shoo-in for a presidential nomination in 2020.

REVIEW: Seth Rogen really knows how to nail a mainstream-friendly comedy hit with wide appeal. KNOCKED UP is an enduring example, with him having been able to corner the rom-com genre, along with NEIGHBORS, where a jacked-Zac Efron let him tap into the youth market in a big way. When he wants to be a little more risqué, as with THE INTERVIEW or OBSERVE & REPORT, the results can be more niche, but with this one, LONG SHOT, which re-teams him with his 50/50 & THE NIGHT BEFORE director Jonathan Levine, he’s in crowd-pleasing mode. The result definitely deserves to be a major hit and should be, even if opening so hot on the heels of AVENGERS: ENDGAME seems like a bit of a dicey idea.

What’s particularly impressive about LONG SHOT is that you never really have too much of a hard time buying the idea of Charlize Theron falling in love with Seth Rogen. While defiantly schlubby in a town full of chiseled stars (nowadays, even comic actors are getting shredded) Rogen also has a lot of charm, and Theron proves to be an ideal foil. As the tagline says, Rogen + Theron might be a long shot, but it’s not impossible.

A movie like this lives and dies by the chemistry between its two stars, and sure enough, you get the sense that Theron is totally game to tap into her mostly unexplored comic talent. She proves more than able to hold her own with Rogen, and actually gets some of the movie’s most memorable set pieces, including a funny bit where she gets totally wrecked on MDMA but still has to negotiate a tricky political powder keg with a hostile foreign power. Again, this scenario isn’t terribly likely, but it’s funny.

If the movie suffers at all credibility-wise, it’s that Rogen’s character seems an unlikely hire for the office of a presidential candidate. Not only does he show up for his interview with weed, MDMA, and even some coke on him (which security finds and seemingly has no problem with) but his writing seems sophomoric and juvenile. Even the tips that he gives Theron (like include pop culture references) seem misguided and artificial at best. A bit more realism exploring the political scene would have made this a little more impactful, but then again this is a broad comedy so it’s not too much of an issue.

One of the biggest strengths here is the murderer’s row of comic talent they have in the supporting cast, including June Diane Raphael as an acid-tongued staffer, O’Shea Jackson Jr. as Rogen’s best pal, Andy Serkis under heavy make-up as a Steve Bannon-like multimedia conglomerate owner, and best of all, Bob Odenkirk as the dim president, who’s been elected because he once played the commander & chief on a “West Wing” style show and is hopelessly corrupt and out of his depth. Alexander Skarsgard shows up as Rogen’s rival for Theron’s affections, the Canadian PM, with him clearly intended as a Justin Trudeau clone. I’m half surprised Trudeau himself didn’t play the part…

While at 125 minutes, it’s a tad long for a comedy, LONG SHOT is still the funniest mainstream movie to come out in a long time, and if the timing isn’t off too much this could wind-up one of the year’s bigger comic hits, especially given how sparse the offerings have been lately. It’s got the massive appeal, with Rogen even trying to be bi-partisan late in the game when it’s revealed that a beloved character is a Republican, and the presence of Theron in a comic role that’s tailor-made should help this branch out beyond Rogen’s base in a big way.

Long Shot

GREAT

8

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