In terms of getting the best comedic value for your money, Seth Rogen's characters have been relatively consistent for well over a decade. Yeah, it's been that long. And even though it seems that Rogen is frequently playing the same stoner-type character, his more recent comedies still manage to make me laugh-out-loud without making the shtick feel old (Neighbors, The Night Before, and even the adult, animated comedy Sausage Party). The only time I've really been disappointed was after watching The Interview (2014); going into this movie, I was a little bit wary because Dan Sterling, the man responsible for that screenplay, helped to pen this comedy alongside female writing partner Liz Hannah (she wrote 2017's The Post).
Perhaps having a talented female co-writer was the much needed tweak, because unlike The Interview, this screenplay manages to hit all of the beats without getting stale. So, here's the setup: Rogen plays Fred Flarsky, a journalist who has made a career speaking out against the social and political injustices currently plaguing our country. A brief aside: much of this movie parodies/mirrors today's political atmosphere, whether we're talking about the POTUS being a former TV star, or the ridiculousness of today's biased news shows.
When Flarsky's small newspaper gets bought out by media mogul Parker Wembly (think Rupert Murdoch), Flarsky quits based on principle. Newly unemployed, and without much of a backup plan to support his hasty resignation, Flarsky's best friend Lance (hilariously played by O'Shea Jackson, Jr.) takes him out on the town to cheer him up. The night ends at a party where the film veers into romantic-comedy territory. At this party, Flarsky runs into his childhood crush Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron), once his babysitter and now the United States' Secretary of State.
Field, who has recently convinced the POTUS to endorse her 2020 run for president has everything going for her, she's attractive, smart, relatable, but lacks a sense of humor...the perfect void to be filled by Flarsky (*insert Seth Rogen chuckle* for the sexual innuendo). This is the setup for a working relationship that soon blossoms into much more. What could have been a rather humdrum film that went through the romantic-comedy-motions, The Long Shot takes on a deeper meaning as both Charlotte and Fred explore whether or not they can have a relationship under the scrutiny of the public-eye; both characters face their own moral dilemmas, making the film multi-dimensional and less formulaic.
This film opens up today, May 2, 2019.
https://youtu.be/ZKsc2I4Tgsk