A journalist reunites with his former babysitter and childhood
crush who is now the Secretary of State and running for president. COMEDY
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Long Shot (2019)Directed by Jonathan Levine
Written by Dan Sterling and Liz Hannah Starring Charlize Theron, Seth Rogen, O'Shea Jackson Jr., June Diane Raphael, Ravi Patel, Bob Odenkirk |
I will say that romantic comedies aren't my thing. At all. Save for Shaun of the Dead, I will generally avoid these films like the plague because they are generally all the same. Boy meets girl, boy likes girl, they encounter an obstacle and live happily ever after. Did I miss anything? That's the extremely basic structure these films follow and there are exceptions, of course. Which is to say that this film does have this structure but it's not defined by it. The pairing of Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen works. I am a big fan of Seth Rogen and have been for a while. I think he is a great writer and has given us some of the best comedies of the past two decades. His acting is pretty good too. Next to Charlize Theron, he performs admirably and she shows that she's got some comedy chops in her.
The political setting of the film serves as a good distraction from the well worn structure we've all gotten accustomed to. There are blatant caricatures of right wing politicians and public figures that may date this film later on even if it is a bit heavy-handed at times it still has genuine moments of hilarity. The real surprise to me was O'Shea Jackson Jr. (aka Ice Cube's son) who chews up the scenery whenever he's on camera. There's even a scene where he and Seth Rogen are at a party (that features Boyz II Men!) where he makes the off hand comment of someone "Saying they loved my work." I cracked up but that's also because I'm old and was a young whipper snapper when his Dad was still known more for rapping than movies (even though he had done Boyz n the Hood already in 1991). All in all, this was a fun flick with great humor that felt like it could have come from Rogen even though he didn't write the script at all and that, for me, balanced out the mushy romance crap enough to enjoy it. Plus, Charlize Theron...need I say more? |