What is the relationship exactly?
Long Shot would be an apt title for most romantic comedies. The genre has tropes so firmly established that they almost defy anyone breathing freshness into them. There are a number of ways in which this particular long shot defies those daunting odds. Drawing on the strengths of his writers and cast, director Jonathan Levine delivers plenty of com, while ultimately spiriting up more rom than you might ever have expected.
Seth Rogan is Fred Flarsky, a disheveled and provocative print journalist, whose progressive agenda puts him at odds with the new boss of his paper. One resignation later he's drowning his sorrows, an evening that throws him back into the orbit of his one-time nanny and boyhood crush Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron). Now the US Secretary of State, Charlotte is contemplating a run for the Presidency, using a global environmental initiative to launch her campaign. She hires Fred - much to the chagrin of her devoted PA Maggie - as a writer whose edgily humorous style can pep up her speeches. Their professional relationship proves a tight one, but when it starts to develop into something even closer, Maggie's disapproval proves only one of their worries.
Long Shot's success is due in no small part to its meshing of two distinct movie styles. Rogan, hands-on in his movies since the days with Judd Apatow and Knocked Up, brings that same semi-improv style to the whole project - rude and profane, but with an engaging man-child innocence. The world into which he steps, however, is much more West Wing this time around. Co-writer Liz Hannah (she worked on Spielberg's investigative journalism drama The Post) has helped to ground the more juvenile elements of comedy in the recognisably venal world of modern politics. The result has all the slapstick and cheerfully low-brow humour of other Rogan comedies, along with some real satirical bite. And somehow the romantic part bubbles up organically in the midst of it all.
Thank the leads for that latter success. The character of Fred is grist to Rogan's comedic mill - a proudly unkempt, pot-smoking maverick with a line in blunt honesty. Theron meanwhile continues to extend her can-do-anything CV. As Charlotte she has all the poise and dynamism of a career politician, while exhibiting the same comedy chops as she did in last year's Gringo. (Watch those back-to-back with Atomic Blonde and Tully - the woman's a dictionary definition of 'versatility'.) Together they have that rom-com Holy Grail of natural chemistry, actually convincing that this disparate twosome could click on a romantic level. It helps that they're written as having history - an instant basis of friendship that's allowed to evolve totally unforced into something else.
A handful of other quality turns help make good on the movie's laughter quotient. O'Shea Jackson is consistently funny as Fred's best pal and self-appointed life-coach Lance, while June Diane Raphael delivers precision put-downs as the steely Maggie. Particularly resonant in the present political era, however, is Better Call Saul's Bob Odenkirk as the sitting US President; a former TV actor who's found his way to the Oval Office, he sees being Commander in Chief as part of a larger career plan. It's a joke with good mileage - an arch commentary on current US politics, distanced just enough from real-life events to avoid crude parody.
Long Shot tells a similar tale to 1995's The American President, only with a crucial gender-reversal. It's in keeping with 2019 sensibilities, but sufficiently well-written that it doesn't pander to them too obviously. It also delivers a timely message - not just on the global climate issue, but on that of keeping your integrity in an era of establishment politics. And above all it hits its twin genre goals - bringing the feels and the funny.
Gut Reaction: Numerous laughs and one spluttering guffaw at a particularly unexpected Theron remark.
Memorable Moment: Time-out at the climate conference.
Ed's Verdict: 8/10. Too foul-mouthed, raunchy and outrageous to suffer from schmaltz, this still manages to be both biting and sweet. Definitely a shot worth taking.
No comments:
Post a Comment