“Long Shot”

We haven’t had a film like this in a while. A traditional formula romantic comedy with all the cliches and bells and whistles that we were over saturated with in the 90’s. Now for these films to work, you have to buy that these 2 protagonists should be together. Charlize Theron plays a young and beautiful Secretary of State who really wants to be president. Seth Rogen plays a fired journalist hired to be her speech writer. The two of them knew each other as kids. He, being a brash sloppy potty mouth and her being a sophisticated important person are supposed to be the polar opposites that society would never accept. The two eventually fall for each other against the better judgment of Theron’s staff. We’ve seen all this before so the question is does the execution work and for the most part, I think the film doesn’t quite get there, although it’s not terrible. Rogen is funny at times, but I’ve seen this guy before. Theron is beautiful, but I had trouble believing what she was selling, esp. as she was building her presidential platform. Trees? I like trees, but c’mon. Both leads are very likable, but whether they should be together or not, I didn’t care that much and that is a problem when watching a rom-com. Good effort, but I can’t recommend it, although fans of Rogen might enjoy it a bit more than I did.

Rating: (**)