Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron star in this oddball romantic comedy about a down on his luck journalist who starts a relationship with a presidential candidate.
Rogen stars as maverick reporter Fred Flarsky, who after losing his job due to a corporate buy out has a chance encounter with his former babysitter and childhood crush Charlotte Field (Theron).
Field, now Secretary of State is one of the most influential woman in the world, and happens to be in need of a speech writer for her upcoming presidential campaign.
Drawn to Flarsky’s self-deprecating humour and laid back attitude, she hires him, against the advice of her inner circle.
What follows is a fish out of water romantic comedy as Flarksy and Field travel the world together on the lead up to the election and become increasingly close.
Director Jonathan Levine, reteams with Rogen for the third time, whilst the script is written by Liz Hannah (The Post) and Dan Sterling (The Interview).
Rogen excels at playing the schlubby man child and his portrayal of Flarsky is very much in that vein. His trademark blend of slap stick and stoner humour works well, particularly in the early stages. His calamitous fall down the stairs at a party is guaranteed to raise a chortle.
The films success hinges very much on how entertaining you find Rogen.
Fans of his previous work like Knocked-up and Superbad will likely enjoy this very much.
O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Bob Odenkirk deliver some entertaining support in the form of Flarsky’s best friend Lance and the clueless President Chambers.
Theron plays the straight woman to Rogen’s goofball, however when she is allowed to let her hair down, in a drunken party scene, the actress proves equally adept at zany comedy.
The film touches on some interesting themes, such political scheming and the lack of privacy in the internet age, but fails to delve deeply enough, and as the story edges towards its conclusion, it begins to lose its way.
The humour becomes much more awkward and cringe inducing whilst the finale stretches credulity to the limit.
With an obvious chemistry between the two leads, Long Shot is charming early on and amusing in places but struggles to sustain it for the full duration of its two hour runtime.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Paul Steward
@Grittser
13/05/19