Long Shot is a Seth Rogen movie. There aren’t many reasons powerful enough to make me watch a Seth Rogen movie. Charlize Theron is that powerful a reason. The film is about a woman running for President, an unlikely love story, and the business of politics.
Long Shot is a comedy. Perhaps fantasy would be a better descriptor because the events of the story and the happy ending are far, far away from reality and exist only in the fantastical imagination of director Jonathan Levine and the two screenwriters Dan Sterling and Liz Hannah.
Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) is Secretary of State. Her aides include Maggie (June Diane Raphael) and Tom (Ravi Patel). She’s exploring the idea of running for President and wants the endorsement of the current President (Bob Odenkirk). She plans to run on an environmental platform and has a 3 point plan to improve the climate.
Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) is a journalist who writes scathing attacks on just about everything that’s happening in the country. When his newspaper sells to a big conglomerate, he quits.
Fred’s best friend Lance (O’Shea Jackson, Jr.) takes him to a big event to help him cheer up from being jobless. Charlotte is there. They make eye contact. Flashback to 25 years ago when young Charlotte was the babysitter for an even younger Fred.
Charlotte and Fred talk. She hires him to be a speechwriter.
From there the story takes off into their unlikely romance, the compromises and moral ambiguities of politics, the manipulations of public image, taking a moral stand for right, and what people are willing to do for love.
Seth Rogen is skilled at acting like a schmuck – he basically does it in every movie he’s in. Kudos to Charlize Theron for making it convincing that she actually cared about him and wanted to be with him.
If life worked the way this movie works, the world would be a better place. And we might have a better President.
You can see Long Shot on Netflix.
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i agree that Mr. Rogen has a definite character in his movies but he is less schmuck and more schlemiel. and in this movie, his character is supposed to be both intelligent and principled. i think that is what we are to believe is the attraction for Ms. Theron. there isnt what i think of as romantic chemistry but the two actors seem to like one another. the movie is slight – these sorts of comedies always are – but fun enough.
LOL, I had to look up schlemiel to be sure I knew what it meant. I see your point. He isn’t so much unlikable as unlikely. His honesty was his best quality, which is true of a lot of people.