Seth Rogen’s latest feature has remarkably less drug induced chaos than previous works that, along with a myriad of other small changes, makes his latest film “Long Shot” immediately feel distinct, even for someone who’s filmography includes a stoner Christmas flick, a biopic about a master of trash cinema, and an R-rated Pixar parody.
While most of the film’s traits and advertising has heavily relied on Rogen’s image and past films, the film simply does not belong to him. Rather, it is commanded by his opposite, the always excellent Charlize Theron. While Theron is mostly known for her action (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Atomic Blonde”) or drama (“Monster,” “The Road”) roles, her resume has quite a number of substantial comedies littered throughout. Having starred in critical darlings like “Tully” and “Young Adult” and audience favorites like “Hancock”; “Long Shot” gives her a chance to stretch her comedic abilities in a broader way.
Theron is clearly 100% game to jump into every f-word laden, drug fueled scene the film has, and she continues to show why her comedic chops are consistently underestimated. She’s extremely funny but her wit and smirk help to balance the sly sex appeal her character maintains. One of the funniest scenes in the entire film involves her “bossy” attitude and Rogen’s reactions to it during a tryst. If Theron didn’t have such clear and sharp control on Field’s characterization, it wouldn’t work. Thankfully she does, and it works so damn well.
Rogen is putting just as much work in, but the results are completely different. Most of his characterization seems dedicated to reversing Rogen’s real-life teddy bear persona, and instead builds a character who needs to come to grips with his angry, confrontative nature. His evolution over the course of the film works and it shows Rogen’s evolution as an actor. It isn’t anything radically different but is shows that he’s trying to make at least some changes to his typical roles.
Thankfully, the charm between the two leads is only somewhat present at the film’s start, leading to a gradual escalation in their relationship throughout the film. It means the scenes they share alone together or at parties together feel that much more impactful, and they end up being the best parts of the film. One sequence out at a drug fueled party is a highlight specifically because it doubles down on their happy-go-lucky chemistry.
However, it doesn’t really hit a balanced mixture of awkward and charming until Rogen and Theron start working together, meaning the first 15 or so minutes are pretty slow. Rogen’s best friend, played by O'Shea Jackson Jr. (“Straight Outta Compton,” “Ingrid Goes West”) is a wonderfully warm shoulder for Rogen’s Flarsky, but he’s mostly absent in the second act of the film. The time he is there, he’s a welcome sight though, as is the rest of the supporting cast; Alexander Skarsgård (“True Blood,” “Melancholia”) playing the Canadian Prime Minister is good for a few accent-humor laughs, and June Diane Raphael (“The Disaster Artist,” “Bride Wars”) as Field’s assistant Maggie is a surprisingly funny side character.
Bob Odenkirk (“Mr. Show,” “Better Call Saul”), playing a fictional president, is also amusing in his supporting role, but his subplot is a great example of one of the film’s issues. Throughout the film, there are cutaways and moments dedicated to showing the news and their reactions to the events on Theron’s campaign.
However, while about 3/4ths of them seem fairly normal, if a bit tongue in cheek, the clear Fox News parody comes off far too strong. This is a constant throughout the film, as the moral dilemma comes at the hand of a sleazy media conglomerate owner Parker Wembley, played by a damn near unrecognizable Andy Serkis (“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”). The conflicts involving him and basically just about every joke thrown at the right wing come off as meaner than the rest of the film’s comedy, as if they were thrown it at the end to get some cheap laughs from liberals.
Which is fine, as the jokes completely hit their mark. But given that a major plot point centers around Flarksy’s anger towards the media and his need to quell that anger and see things from multiple perspectives, these segments feel tonally off. Funny still, but tonally at odds with the rest of the movie’s earnest charm that helps to distract from the rom-com clichés.
Notice the word “distract” and not “avoid.” Because really this is the same exact story told in just about every “Cinderella”/“Pretty Woman”-style romance that has existed since the end of time. Where writers Dan Sterling (“The Interview,” “Girls”) and Liz Hannah (“The Post”) instead deviate is in a lot of the small problematic moments that often plague rom-coms, even modern-day ones. Just when a scene seems to be building to a faux jealousy moment because Rogen sees Theron dance with someone who’s not him, it goes in the complete opposite direction. Not only does he not get upset, but he even acknowledges his potentially jealous feelings and takes actions to dispel them from his mind.
When an awkward sexual encounter seems like it’s about to happen, the characters stop for a moment, discuss what they do and don’t want to happen, and make a plan of action to make sure they both get what they want. There are no cheating moments, no he said/she said, and no liar revealed tropes here. Instead, it’s grown adults talking about the issues that arise, and while that doesn’t immediately fix those issues, it nevertheless has them putting forth the effort to try.
It says a lot about the general culture surrounding romances in films that two of the biggest and most groundbreaking romance films of the past few years are both R-rated comedies. Just like “Blockers” did last year, “Long Shot” smartly subverts some of the rom-com clichés by simply making sure they don’t happen, instead of doing them in different ways. It’s so simple, it seems like genius, and that decision, mixed with the great chemistry of Rogen and Theron, helps to make “Long Shot” the best comedy of the year so far.
This ends up delivering a film that might be struggling tonally but is excellent at the ways it addresses and subverts the toxic tendencies most rom-coms tend to show. Anchored by its charming and chemistry infused leading duo, “Long Shot” is a bit slow and tonally confused, but still manages to be extremely funny, and refreshing in its unsatisfaction with letting the typical toxic details of the rom-com genre go unpunished. 4/5
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