LONG SHOT

2019 | DIR: JONATHAN LEVINE | STARRING: SETH ROGEN, CHARLIZE THERON, ANDY SERKIS, BOB ODENKIRK | REVIEW BY GLENN COCHRANE.

Being a sucker for romantic comedies there are a few staple “go-to” titles that I consider to be benchmarks for the genre; among them, Annie Hall, When Harry Met Sallyand Notting Hill. And so it is no surprise that Long Shot works very well when it is more or less a loose retooling of the latter, with flecks of the former two. Where Notting Hillsaw Hugh Grant’s everyday-man bookseller fawning over Julia Robert’s Hollywood starlet, Long Shot has Seth Rogan’s unemployed journalist swooning over Charlize Theron’s secretary of state.​

Rogen plays Fred Flarsky, a left-winged journalist who writes aggressive political pieces for a popular alternative publication. When his newspaper is sold to a multinational media conglomerate, he quits and spends his first night of unemployment with his best friend, Lance (O’Shea Jackson Jr. – aka the son of Ice Cube). Lance is a successful businessman and takes Fred to a swanky party with the promise of meeting ‘90s pop group Boys II Men. The Government’s Secretary of State, Charlotte Field (Theron), is also at the function and recognises Fred, who was once the kid she babysat as a teenager. They instantly bond and Charlotte hires Fred to be her speechwriter for her upcoming presidential campaign, much to the chagrin of her primary two staff members.

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