First Mister-to-Be: Rogen and Theron make an easy couple in sharp, delightful "Long Shot"

Long Shot (2019)

125 min.

Release Date: May 3, 2019 (Wide)

Jonathan Levine (2017’s “Snatched”) has proven he can effortlessly achieve an expert tonal balance in all of his eclectic films, whether it’s a dramedy about a twentysomething man diagnosed with cancer (2011's "50/50"), a romantic comedy about a zombie falling in love with a mortal young woman (2013's "Warm Bodies"), or an up-all-night romp about three friends looking for a Christmas party (2015's "The Night Before"). Levine’s latest, “Long Shot,” is like his reverse answer to 1995’s “The American President”: just imagine if Michael Douglas was a female Secretary of State and Annette Bening was a schlubby, bearded slacker. That’s a hard visual image to swallow, but Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen are an on-screen romantic pair you never knew you needed in a sharp, delightful romantic comedy that’s traditional and yet feels politically of the moment.

Brooklyn Advocate journalist Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) quits in protest and on principle when his newspaper is bought by right-wing media mogul Parker Wembley (Andy Serkis). At a fundraiser he’s invited to by his best friend (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), Fred runs into Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron), his teenage crush and former babysitter who also happens to be Secretary of State. Seeing as how President Chambers (Bob Odenkirk) is ready to resign after one term and Charlotte has convinced him to endorse her as a presidential candidate for 2020, Charlotte soon enlists Fred’s help to punch up her speeches. Besides bonding over Boyz II Men, will Fred and Charlotte make it as a couple?

As a romantic comedy made for adults needs to be, “Long Shot” is funny, bawdy in spurts but often relying on character-based situations and politics, and also very sweet. On paper, Fred and Charlotte shouldn’t make sense as a couple, and Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron wouldn’t seem like the most likely romantic pairing, either—it’s a long shot, after all—but they have a snappy, surprisingly easy chemistry and seem to made for one another. The script by writers Dan Sterling (2014’s “The Interview”) and Liz Hannah (2017’s “The Post”) gives Fred and Charlotte—and, well, almost everyone—sparkling dialogue, too. Together and apart, Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron are appealing. Rogen has honed this likable slacker persona, and as Fred, he is quite endearing, bringing crack comedic timing when it comes to a one-liner about being forced to wear a traditional Swedish suit (“I look like Captain Crunch’s Grindr date”) and the physical comedy. Capable of playing comedy when she gets the opportunity as much as she is in a heavy drama, Theron is terrific as Charlotte, fleshing her out as a focused woman who has worked hard to get to her position but isn’t overly uptight or immune to having fun. Her Charlotte has a wonderful edge and gets to let loose when taking Molly at a club in Paris with Fred, only to have to negotiate in a hostage situation as she’s riding her high, and she gets a great spit take and a funny micro-napping bit. 

Rounding out the cast are Alexander Skarsgård, who gets to be unattractive and skeevy with a lame laugh and slurping of oysters as a Canadian prime minister to whom Charlotte shows her flirtatious side; June Diane Raphael (2018’s “Blockers”), an ace at side-eye and slaying every deliciously acerbic one-liner as if she were in HBO’s “Veep” as Charlotte’s withering, knows-best staffer Maggie; and O’Shea Jackson Jr. (2017’s “Ingrid Goes West”) continues to fit his charismatic goodness into any film he can, this time as Fred’s rich best friend Lance. The most unrecognizable supporting turn comes from Andy Serkis, who looks like an entirely different person playing a Rupert Murdoch type, but the casting is an inspired masterstroke and the performance is a suitably slimy one.

As it happens, the romantic mismatch makes “Long Shot” work the most, turning it into more of a likable crowd-pleaser than a hard-hitting political satire. There’s a lovely moment where Fred and Charlotte share a dance to Roxette’s “It Must Have Been Love” (which will automatically be second most memorable after 1990’s “Pretty Woman”) to a quirky reference to Pauly Shore comedy “Encino Man.” Finding a fresh-enough spin on its own genre trappings, “Long Shot” has been penned with enough bite and intelligence, while also embracing its romantic-comedy conventions without pandering.

Grade: B