There are a lot of really terrific actresses out there. All of the greats have some sort of versatility in their repertoire: Meryl. Reese. J-Law. Selena Gomez (kidding). However, there is only one who can do anything, and that is Charlize Theron. Unlike Julia Roberts, She won her Oscar playing one of the great screen villains. Unlike Meryl Streep, she can totally be the biggest ass kicker in a desert full of them, and with one hand! The only female role staple Theron hadn’t conquered she does with Long Shot: your classic rom com. The world finally has the female actress Renaissance woman.
The movie doesn’t open with Charlize though; instead, we get introduced to Seth Rogen’s Fred Flarsky. Fred is a well meaning idealistic journalist, who will quit on principle when a media corporate takeover happens at work. While being cheered up by his best bud Lance (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), Fred reconnects with Charlotte Field (Theron), his former babysitter turned Secretary of State. The timing is obviously romcom perfect: Field is starting her bid for president and needs a comedic speech writer who knows her from her past! Also, naturally, Fred’s appearance and demeanor scare the hell out of Charlotte’s advisors Maggie (June Diane Raphael) and Tom (Ravi Patel), who could get potentially in the way of the duo ending up in a relationship.
Merging a romcom into the political process is a stroke of genius by Liz Hannah and Dan Sterling, the writers. This allows Long Shot’s material to be a step above your standard romcom dribble. Charlotte has all these metrics she has to keep high to remain electable: good laugh, nice hand wave, cute smile, etc. Notice the lack of policies in there? This also bothers Charlotte, who so wants to be doing something good for the world instead of being a stooge like the movie’s current President (Bob Odenkirk). However, if she insists too often, the media crucifies her as being a bitch on Rupert Murdoch stand-in Parker Wembley’s (Andy Serkis) version of Fox News. Parker also keeps searching for a way to keep Charlotte in line so she can try to obtain power, forcing her to compromise even more in her quest to do something good. Fred’s idealism is nicely juxtaposed against Charlotte, who is both irritated at his naivete but charmed by his simplistic desire to do the right thing, making Charlotte a more fascinating character, and making Long Shot ask serious questions around Seth Rogen falling down a flight of stairs in front of Boyz II Men.
Fortunately, Jonathan Levine, the director, and the writers know that people are here to see a romcom, so that remains the central driver of the story. Long Shot swaps the power dynamic, putting Fred into the powerless role and Charlotte in the power position, a fresh spin. As good as Charlotte is at her job, it becomes abundantly clear that her rise to power has left her lonely and longing for connection. Fred, conversely, wants to actually enact some real change instead of feeling defeated over and over again by powerful people. The two provide each other what the other wants, and the chemistry between the two of them is better than you might think. Surprisingly, Charlize is just at home as Seth Rogen with crazy shenanigans (a molly induced hostage interrogation allows Theron to show those amazing comedic chops she seldom uses) as selling the romance with Rogen, who can do “affable schlub” in his sleep. While the third act beginning is kinda botched, Long Shot also goes to great lengths to show that the enemy is mostly not a person, but perception versus reality, a more complicated theme that any person who’s had friends say they hate their significant other will understand.
Charlize Theron really might be our most versatile actress ever thanks to Long Shot. More importantly, she can do that thing that all great thespians pull off: she makes bad movies ok, and good movies great. Seriously, what other roles does Theron have to play to make me convince you? A monkey? She’s done it. Psychopathic despot? Hell yeah! A mentally retarded British person on a TV Show? Mr. F!