And out of nowhere, we have what will likely be the funniest movie of the year. Long Shot, the Seth Rogen/Charlize Theron romantic comedy you never expected, has—yes—Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron falling in love, having sex, and consistently making you laugh.
Theron plays the U.S. Secretary of State, the most powerful woman in the world, planning a run for president after the current leader, an idiotic, Trump-esque figure played by Bob Odenkirk, decides to step down to pursue a movie career. She hires a firebrand journalist (Rogen), who she used to babysit as a teenager, as her speechwriter.
But, as you’d expect when a beautiful woman pairs up with Seth Rogen, she is unable to resist his sexiness and falls in love, despite the bad optics of dating Seth Rogen.
I had low expectations for Long Shot for no apparent reason, other than its release date falls just days after Avengers: Endgame at the beginning of summer—usually a sign of low quality and even lower expectations. Surprisingly, sort of, Long Shot is a funny, smart, heartwarming, and feminist-friendly romantic comedy that plays to Rogen’s strengths and flashes the brilliance of Theron’s comedic capabilities.
In fact, Long Shot is easily the funniest movie in years—since 2017’s Girls Trip.
While Long Shot commands some suspending of belief—that a high-powered politician with presidential aspirations would fall in love with a chubby, scruffy, and temperamental dude who often goes out of his way to make life for her more difficult—the screenplay by Dan Sterling and Liz Hannah does a convincing job of establishing the relationship and attraction between the two. Rogen is at the top of his game and Theron is fantastic, and they have surprisingly great chemistry with each either.
More importantly, the movie is a laugh-fest, full of witty lines and entertaining bursts of energy. Co-stars June Diane Raphael, Ravi Patel, and O’Shea Jackson Jr. are all delights.
It’s a shame the movie struggles to bring things home, with Long Shot falling into a trap of wrapping up its story of conflicted love in a convincing way. Instead, the movie turns to shock and toilet humor to close things out, an amusing but notably less funny turn. The film’s final 20 minutes aren’t great, but they don’t take away from the brilliance of the first hour and a half.
Long Shot isn’t perfect, but it’s the funniest movie in years and will likely be the go-to comedy of 2019.
Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.