Longshot

We live in a pretty politically divisive time. So political romantic comedies are an interesting genre that has to be done with a lot of care or else it'll just fall flat. In the case of Longshot, it was kind of a mixed bag of formulaic romantic comedy tropes, mixed with some unique writing and storytelling, both of which both works and doesn't work.

Longshot follows the story of Fred Flarsky (played by Seth Rogen) a journalist who quits his job after the website he writes for is acquired by a big corporate conglomerate owned by a man named Parker Wembley (played very well by Andy Serkis that I didn't recognize him until half way through the movie and only when he was in a very well lit room).

On the other side of the movie, you have Secretary of State Charolette Fields (played by Charlize Theron), a rising star embarking on a run for President when the current President (played by Bob Odenkirk) reveals that he's not running for a second term.

As per usual in these romantic comedies, through a comedy of errors they run across one another and realize that they know each other from childhood. Fields hires Flarsky as a speech writer and as they get to know each other more and more, they begin an unlikely friendship that blossoms into an even unlikelier romantic relationship.

While the movie follows some of the same formulas of any generic romantic comedy, there were two things that really kept me engaged in this movie.

The first is the surprising chemistry between Rogen and Theron. Just like in real life, Theron is portrayed in this movie as this elegant goddess-like figure and rightfully juxtaposed to Rogen who is not an elegant figure on so many levels. And yet this relationship ends up working really well because not only do they vibe well together, they take the time to really build up the relationship. They don't fall right into the sack with one another, there's a pretty good montage of the two getting to know one another. It might not be as long of a period within the movie than I thought, but their transition from aquaintances to lovers is very smooth.

The other thing that works is that while there are a lot of formualic moments in this movie, the movie refuses to take on the annoying tropes you'd expect from a romantic comedy where the relationship needs to be kept secret.

Alexander Skarsgard plays the Prime Minister of Canada and is a pretty thinly veiled analogy to current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The media in the movie speculate that Skarsgard and Theron's characters are romantically invovled and in a paint by numbers script, he'd either be an anatagonist or someone that Rogen's character is jealous of.

But instead, the movie barely has an antagonist at all and everyone acts almost too reasonable for there to be a real conflict at a certain point. The movie trucks along pretty well without a real "villain" until the last third where Serkis's character is developed as a minor foil to the relationship.

The third act of the movie is really where the quality goes down a little bit. It's not horrible, but it does highlight the far fetched nature of the movie as a whole. And to be fair, I don't know a single romantic comedy that doesn't have the third act falling out routine. The thing I appreciate about this film is the reasonableness of everyone and understanding the reality that they live in, but at the same time in order for their to be a happy ending you kind of have to suspend any kind of disbelief that even the movie sort of sets up.

My one double edged critique of this film is the criminal underutilization of O'Shea Jackson Jr and frankly the supporting characters in general.

Jackson is a great example because he basically steals every scene he's in. I get that you need to focus these movies on the two leads, but Jackson, June Diane Raphael, and Andy Serkis were all phenomenal actors who were just under utilized in this film. I haven't seen Straight Outta Compton, but one big take away that I heard about it was that Jackson was phenomenal in it. This might not be the introduction that highlights his talents as much as it could, but he is exemplary of the fantastic cast this movie has, even if its not utilized to the greatest extent.

Longshot reminds me that I don't watch movies to find the perfect film but instead just to be entertained, examine the different kinds of films, and in a sense find some escapism.

The dialogue in the film can be pretty on the nose both in its character development and political "commentary" but this movie is by no means a hugely political movie. The political nature of the movie serves more as a backdrop for a pretty serviceable romantic comedy. If you're looking for an overly smart political movie, you're probably not going to find it here.

Charlize Theron is not only a goddess living among us, she's really funny, especially paired up with Seth Rogen. The movie made me laugh despite being pretty predictable, and every once in a while you need a feel good film.

So while Longshot is by no means a perfect movie, I'd say it's definitely worth checking out if you have the opportunity. It bucks some of the conventions of normal romantic comedies, and gives us pretty great performances from everyone involved.

But those are my thoughts on Longshot. What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

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