Long Shot Review

The world of politics is currently topsy-turvy and serves as the backroom for the latest Seth Rogen comedy.

Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) is a rising star in politics, being the youngest Secretary of State in American history. When Charlotte finds out The President (Bob Odenkirk) is not going to run for re-election she plans to run with her final act to be the sponsor of a global environmental agreement. However, Charlotte has one problem, her humour and when she runs into her old neighbour, Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) she hires him as a speechwriter. And sparks start to fly.

The political rom-com is nothing new – Aaron Sorkin wrote The American President that was released in 1995. The American President and Long Shot do have similarities – both focus on busy senior politicians who end up in a relationship with a campaigner whilst the election cycle looms. There are also differences, The American President had Sorkin’s razor-sharp dialogue whilst Long Shot was made with the Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg stoner filter.

The title suggests that Long Shot was going to be about the presidential campaign when in reality it was more about the day-to-day job. There is an aim for a presidential run but there isn’t a look of the actual campaign. Even the term ‘long shot’ isn’t accurate because Charlotte polls well and if she gets the president’s endorsement she’s a shoo-in.

The state of modern politics is bizarre and seems beyond parody. Long Shot still tries though. The President was clearly a stand-in for Trump, an actor who played a president on TV and in bed with special interests. Trump masqueraded as a businessman on TV before getting elected. The film also draws from America’s history of electing celebrates – i.e. Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jesse Ventura. Political inexperience is seen as a virtue to some Americans.

Parker Wembley (Andy Serkis) and his Wembley Media empire are basically Rupert Murdoch and Fox News. He is a man with the power to make or break political careers and his news shows offer opinions as news. Alexander Skarsgård as the good looking Canadian Prime Minister may as well been called Justin Trudeau.

The film is surprisingly topical because Ukraine recently elected a comedian who played a president on TV and environmental issues are big in the news at the time of the writing.  Long Shot is most potent when looking at women in politics. As Charlotte states in the film if she is too emotional she would be seen as shrill – Hillary Clinton was nicknamed Shrillary. Nor can Charlotte be emotionless because she would be seen as robotic. The news presenters on Wembley News were blatantly sexist, judging Charlotte on her looks. When Charlotte asked her pollster what voters thought out her policies the response was no one cares about that.

Rogen’s Fred is a firebrand, similar to people certain people on Youtube – people who speak with passion, anger and uses an excessive amount of swearing. It’s his way or the highway and he is called out on this because the realities of politics and international relations is compromises are needed. Charlotte says ‘you have to play the game to win it.’

The important aspect of any comedy is whether it’s funny and in Long Shot‘s case there were the occasional gems. Being a Rogen film there were some crude jokes, drugs humour, and pratfalls. Rogen was clearly ad-lipping during some scenes and they were hit-and-miss themselves. I personally laughed a few times like when Charlotte putting her military level training into action.

Long Shot has been greatly praised by critics but to me it was average. There were some funny moments and I liked the political satire but it was mostly forgettable.