Cast is terrific, but this movie becoming a must-see is a long shot
Director Jonathan Levine tries his hand at comedy again for the first time since 2017’s tepid Amy Schumer/Goldie Hawn vehicle Snatched, and somewhat redeems himself. Long Shot is a bit smarter and a bit funnier than Levine’s previous picture, but, while entertaining enough, it isn’t destined to become a comedy classic.
That’s disappointing, given the film’s credentials. In addition to Levine (who also helmed 20ll’s excellent 50/50), screenwriters Dan Sterling and Liz Hannah are on board. Sterling is an award winning TV writer (The Sarah Silverman Program; Girls; The Office), and Hannah earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for her script for last year’s The Post. Throw in a who’s who of comedic and acting talents like Seth Rogen, Charlize Theron, Alexander Skarsgård, Bob Odenkirk, and Andy Serkis, and you would think you would have the recipe for an A+ comedy. But, alas. While all that talent isn’t exactly wasted, it’s deserving of a better project than this mildly amusing romantic comedy.
Rogen and Theron star as the titular long shot lovers, Fred Flarsky and Charlotte Field. Their romance is a long shot because of their wildly different circumstances and personalities. Fred is an unrefined and unapologetically progressive newly unemployed journalist, and Charlotte is the sophisticated, measured, and pragmatic Secretary of State. She also happens to be running for President. To make matters worse, the pair grew up together, and 13-year-old Fred suffered an embarrassing moment while 16-year-old Charlotte was babysitting him, as we see in a cringe-inducing but hilarious flashback.
The old neighborhood friends reconnect in the present day, and Fred is as surprised as we are when Charlotte offers him the job of speechwriter and whisks him on a 20-country tour to promote her new environmental initiative, which she hopes will be a springboard for her presidential campaign. Suffice to say that the opposites attract motif plays out as you would expect, in a series of montages as the two get to know each other under the guise of Fred asking Charlotte questions non-stop to get to know her voice, so as to better write her speeches. Charlotte, of course, becomes taken with Fred’s laid-back sensibility, passionate commitment, and sharp sense of humor. Fred, as you’d imagine, has been in love with Charlotte since they were teenagers.
The film’s central conflict thus becomes Charlotte’s unexpected romance with Fred; he’s not an ideal boyfriend or future First Gentleman (or, as Fred calls it, First Mister), as Charlotte’s icy top aide Maggie (June Diane Raphael, Blockers) unceasingly points out. What’s the pair to do? Will Charlotte cave to political and public pressure to preserve her image? Will Fred become Marilyn to Charlotte’s JFK? I bet you can guess the answers from a mile a way, but watching the plot unfold does award us a fair number of laughs.
Rogen and Theron actually have decent chemistry (better than Rogen had with Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up, the movie to which this one has been compared because of its similar hot girl/schlubby guy storyline). Theron can be stiff at times, but her comedic timing – especially in a bedroom scene that plays against our expectations – is right on. Rogen is his usual affable self, and some of his best scenes are with O’Shea Jackson, Jr. (Straight Outta Compton), who plays Fred’s best friend and biggest supporter. Some surprising differences in the duo’s politics and religion that come up late in the film make for an especially humorous exchange.
The supporting cast, too, brings the necessary comedic flair to the proceedings. Bob Odenkirk as the incumbent President Chambers (he won the election after playing a President on a middling TV show, and now wants to have a movie career) finds the humor in an otherwise callous, inept, and clueless head of state. Sound familiar? And Alexander Skarsgård kills it with a glorified Justin Trudeau impression, playing a suave and handsome Canadian Prime Minister. Skarsgård’s Canadian accent alone is worth your movie ticket price. Ravi Patel, as another of Charlotte’s aides, Randall Park as Fred’s boss at a dying Brooklyn progressive newspaper, Lisa Kudrow as a campaign consultant, and Andy Serkis, as the head of a Fox-like broadcasting empire, each skillfully earn a laugh or two, and seem to relish being a part of the rather silly but lighthearted affair.
Silly is the operative word, since although Levine and crew get in plenty of not so veiled digs at Trump, Fox, social media, and political campaigns, many of the picture’s more broad, over the top bits take the viewer out of the moment with the audacity of their unrealism. Would the Secretary of State really diffuse a hostage situation while high on Molly? And would a public announcement of the existence of a sex tape really be the best move from a political campaign? Funny stuff, sure, but the movie can’t seem to decide if it wants to be Something About Mary-crude or Veep-sardonic, and the balance between the tones doesn’t always work.
That said, if you see this movie as an option on a long flight, by all means, watch it. Two hours will fly by, and you’ll even get a few laughs. But do you need to rush out to the theater and drop $15 to see it? That’s a long shot for you to decide.
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Long Shot opens today at Bay Area theaters.
