23 May 2019
Long Shot
A film by Jonathan Levine
reviewed by Frank O’Nomics
Star rating: ****
Is there really any more mileage in the rom-com? Boy meets girl, they fall in love, issues or misunderstandings come between them, only for it all to be resolved in the final frame. Updating the settings, reversing the roles and throwing in additional twists has occasionally refreshed the genre, but the danger has been that they become both less romantic and even less funny. People watch romantic comedies for a little escapist relaxation in the hope of achieving that feel-good factor, not to be intellectually challenged or stimulated. We have to then ask, what is the point of shooting more rom-coms when it is easier for people to resort to the enormous back catalogue to reliably achieve soporific contentment. The answer that Hollywood is going with, it seems, is to create more and more outlandish and outrageous plots. This, it seems, is the rational behind Long Shot. Hang on to your disbelief – it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Hard hitting left-leaning investigative journalist Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) is out to get wasted. The newspaper he writes for has just sold out to a right-wing reactionary media tycoon Parker Wembley (Andy Serkis) – the target of many of Fred’s exposés and most of his anger; all that he despises about business and politics. This prompts his instant resignation and a desire for an alcoholic and drug infused evening of debauchery. Dragged, in his windcheater and cargo trousers, by a wealthy old friend to a society fund-raiser, he encounters the object of a long harboured childhood crush – his former babysitter Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron). It just so happens that she is now the US Secretary of State and seems genuinely pleased to see him (how is that disbelief going? – hang in there) when the President tells her that he is not standing for re-election (he is a former TV actor that wants a shot at the movies) and will endorse her as his successor. But who will help her with her campaign speeches? She decides, of course, on Fred. Ladies and gentlemen disbelief has left the building.
You will be reassured that there is now a big “but”. Despite a plotline that defies credibility, Long Shot still manages to deliver the key ingredients of a good rom-com. We care about the characters and there are more than enough moments of high comedy. Much of this lacks originality, and students of the genre will recognise the Something About Mary moment, which was shocking in 1998 and is still shocking when repeated here. It is the timing and comic talents of Theron and Rogen that do much to make the film work. A particular high point is when Field has to negotiate a Middle Eastern hostage situation while under the influence of narcotics (taken when it looked like they would have to compromise on their environmentally friendly election manifesto). She makes us wish that we really did have politicians who could display such vulnerability and humour. Add to this a banging soundtrack carefully constructed to trigger nostalgia in a wide age group and you have a very solid evening’s entertainment.
Credible? Of course not. Original? Not really. But if you want to escape the frustrations of modern politics – and let’s face it there are so many – this is no bad option. Two final questions: First our hero’s campaign slogan is “Come on Field da Noise”. Were Slade ever a thing in the US? Secondly, where does the title come from? The prospect of a relationship between these characters? The chances of a woman becoming POTUS? Or that Something About Mary moment? You decide.
