Long Shot

          Secretary of State, Charlotte Field, is planning on running for president and, while attending a party, runs into an old friend that she used to babysit. That friend is Fred Flarsky, a journalist who, earlier in the day, quit his job. Their friendship is rekindled as Charlotte commissions Fred to help her with writing her speeches. As they travel the world, Charlotte keeps her campaign a secret and first focuses on getting countries to co-operate in an environmental initiative, but Fred has had feelings for Charlotte ever since she babysat for him when they were in school. Who knows how long the professionalism will last on their journey.

          I didn’t really think much of this movie when the first trailer came out. I thought that Charlize Theron, who plays Field, and Seth Rogen, who plays Flarsky, were an odd pairing and that the film would suffer because of this, but I went in open-minded regardless. After watching the film, it was surprising to see how much chemistry the two actors had with each other and almost all of the comedy works, thankfully, because of this. I will say that Seth Rogen’s usual charisma feels a little out of the water, but he manages to apply his personality pretty decently. Theron is amazing and proves that her genre spectrum isn’t limited. One scene, in particular, involves her trying to solve a hostage situation with the military while high on marijuana. It was definitely one of my favorite scenes. This movie is incredibly creative in its comedic endeavors and that comes from the chemistry of the actors and the screenplay in general. It's one of the most original screenplays so far this year.
          Besides Seth Rogen's somewhat misplaced charisma, the other things I didn't think were great were one of the characters and some conflict issues. When Flarksy is first offered the job by Field, one of her assistants is obviously against the idea of Flarsky being on the team and the viewer is lead to believe that she is going to be the main cause of later conflict. Halfway through the movie, you find out something about her and the idea of her being the "villain" is completely dropped. In the last act of the movie, someone that was introduced towards the beginning is re-introduced as the "villain" and this character ends up being the one impacting the future of the relationship between Field and Flarsky. All in all, the conflict mainly comes from how the main characters would think the public would react to Field and Flarsky and the conflict from this re-introduced character towards the end feels weak. Also, because this movie deals heavily with politics, some viewers might be annoyed by certain dialogue choices. The movie, however, takes this opportunity to address how close-mindedness can come from everyone and this ends up being most of the conflict towards the end rather than from the re-introduced character.
         These are mostly my only complaints. Besides the chemistry of Rogen and Theron, this movie also works because of its unique story. Yes, it follows the romantic comedy formula, but it applies the mold in a unique way and it adds to the overall entertainment of the film.
          Overall, this tastefully irreverent and politically charged romantic comedy provides a great way to spend two hours of your time. Its incredibly funny and is what fans of Rogen would expect from him. It's also another great portfolio addition for Theron who gives an excellent performance. Once you've gotten over your Avengers: Endgame high (which I'm still working on), then I would make this movie your next trip to the theater. Or just wait until you can stream it at home, but watch it nonetheless. 8/10