‘Long Shot’ – Review
Every now and again there’s a comedy that comes along which completely blows away any and all expectations. Long Shot is that comedy and stars Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen deliver some of the best comedic scenes I’ve seen in a long time, and you can be certain that your jaw will hurt with how much you are laughing here.
Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen), an unemployed journalist, battered by his own misfortune and self-destructive ways, courts his childhood love interest and babysitter Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) – who is now one of the most powerful and unattainable women on earth.
From the very moment the cinema screen comes to life, Long Shot goes straight for the funny. And this is the type of funny that is packed with the type of in-your-face raunchiness that we’ve come to expect from the likes of Seth Rogen, but now it’s really been dialed up to 11. Combining both the best of the romantic comedy with a serious satirical edge, Long Shot is just flat out hilarious and really commits to this strange tale of total opposites attracting.
Taking up one half of this dynamic duo is Seth Rogen as over-the-hill, burnt out loser journalist Fred Flarsky. When we’re first introduced to Fred he really is a loser at the top of the pile and he’s about to get even lower. That is until he has a chance encounter with Charlize Theron’s Charlotte Field, the graceful yet workaholic United States Secretary of State who actually used to babysit Fred when she was a teenager and whom he’s had a huge crush on his entire life. Through this fortuitous turn of events and needing someone to help spruce up her image, Fred finds himself on the campaign trail with Charlotte as she moves to sell her brand new environmental solution to the world’s governments.
Both Rogen and Theron have great chemistry together with one another and as the movie moves forward we get to see the relationship of this most unlikely couple blossom. While Rogen’s Fred is a 30-something man-child who has never accept any kind of responsibility in his life, Theron’s Charlotte is a stern workaholic who is letting the world pass her by, along with all the sights and experiences that are in it. As they get to know one another further it becomes clearer that each needs the other to help them become a better version of themselves and hence we are see the idea of the ‘soulmate’ become fully realized.
In addition to Theron and Rogen, Long Shot also has a great supporting cast to call upon as well. Hunky Alexander Skarsgard portrays the handsome Canadian Prime Minister James who is not above flaunting his passion for Charlotte very openly, and his performance as the character borders the line between both charm and creepiness perfectly. June Diane Raphael provides plenty of bitchiness as Charlotte’s key staffer Maggie Millikin who really doesn’t like Fred and has no qualms about expressing her distaste for him, and then there’s an unrecognisable Andy Serkis who portrays repellent media baron Parker Wembley and he literally makes your skin crawl.
Audiences should definitely prepare themselves for all kinds of crazy comedy with Long Shot…and trust me it doesn’t let up for a minute. Your jaw will be aching with how much your laughing in Long Shot and just when you think you couldn’t laugh anymore, well Rogen and Theron throw another of their comedic gems our way. While I can’t really go into specifics here without running some kind of risk of spoilers I will say that my favourite scene in the whole film has to be when Fred and Charlotte decide to let loose in Paris and there resulting adventure, which Fred adds to with a few extra ‘ingredients’, had me howling with laughter. It’s frankly uncontrollable and with each passing moment it only gets funnier.
Comedy aside though, Long Shot is a film that really does examine the idea of love and just what it means to all of us when we find ourselves touched by it. While opposites do attract, they’ve never been anything like this before, and there’s a certain cuddly cuteness to this. While the whole world, and I mean the whole world, around them is pulling for them not to end up together, Fred and Charlotte fight this the whole way all in order to find their own sense of love and create a relationship that works them, regardless of how it appears to anyone else. It’s an extremely sweet and heartwarming thing to see and makes Long Shot all the more special.
Long Shot is a far and away the comedy of the year and you won’t be able to stop yourself from laughing. It’s just contagious here. But above the laughter is a very special message about finding that special someone in your life and doing everything you can to make them happy. Movies don’t get much more charming than this so make sure you see get along to Long Shot ASAP.
Image: Studio Canal
