Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Long Shot

July 29, 2019

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Long Shot is a romantic comedy starring Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen that opened in May. It missed expectations at the box office barely matching its $40 million production budget worldwide. Was there a reason moviegoers were smart to stay away? Or was it an unfortunate victim of a soft box office?

The Movie

We start at a White Supremacy meeting, one attended by Fred Flarsky, who is not a white supremacist, but an investigative journalist, who is undercover. He’s not that good at it and ends up having to flee the meeting, but at least he got the evidence he needed for his story. The next day, Fred is called in by his boss because the independent newspaper was just bought by Parker Wembly, who runs a lot of corporate news papers and even a TV network. He helped get the woefully unqualified President Chambers elected by running a bunch of fake stories. Fred quits on the spot, even after his boss offers to fire him so he can at least get unemployment, but Fred is too upset to make rational decisions at this point.

Meanwhile, we meet Charlotte Field, who is the Secretary of State. Her day is going marginally better than Fred’s, with her working late, right up to her falling asleep on the bathroom floor. The next day she has to wake up early to do interviews before meeting with President Chambers, who used to be a TV star. President Chambers announces he’s not going to seek re-election, because he wants to make movies. Charlotte is able to convince him that it would be good for his legacy if she ran for president and he endorsed her. The first thing she does it head to a pollster, because this is modern politics. She’s got great numbers, except for her humor, which is merely good. Maggie, one of her two key staffers, is going to compile some writing samples so they can hire some humor writers to punch up her speeches. First, she has to go to a charity party.

Fred heads to his friend’s Lance’s workplace to commiserate over his unemployment. Lance is not only successful enough to take the day off, but he can give his entire floor the day off as well. Lance has a whole day planned, ending with them going to a charity party. At first, Fred has no interest in this party, because he doesn’t want to be around rich people after losing his job due to a buyout. Then Lance tells him Boyz II Men will be there and he’s in. Speaking of Boyz II Men... What happened to New Jack Swing? Bruno Mars and Cardi B put out “Finesse” last year and it is a great example of the genre, but one song isn’t enough. I need more New Jack Swing in my life. ... Moving on.

You know who else is there? Charlotte. At first she and Fred don’t interact at all, until they spot each other across the room. At first Fred wants to nothing to do with her, because, as he tells Lance, Charlotte used to babysit him and he’s got an embarrassing story about that. Charlotte recognizes Fred, but can’t place the face, so she sends her secret service agent to bring him over. They have a connection, but their talk is cut short when Parker Wembly shows up. Fred is able to keep his cool, for a little bit, before humiliating himself in a very public way. (It makes the news.) Fortunately for him, Charlotte does a little digging and realizes what happened with the newspaper he worked for and why he got so mad at Wembly. She then starts reading some of his stories and thinks he would be a good fit to punch up the humor in her speeches.

This starts out really well, as not only does Fred get a shot at punching up Charlotte’s speeches, he gets to write one in its entirety. It’s a big hit and in order to keep the quality level high, Fred decides he should get to know Charlotte better. Since this is a romantic comedy, you should be able to get how getting to know each other goes.

Long Shot is a romantic comedy and these films have to judged on different criteria than most films. The genre tends to follow a formula rather strictly, so you can’t judge the movie on its originality. It can’t be too derivative, or there’s little reason to watch this movie rather than the countless other romantic comedies that have come before it. Even having the film set in the world of politics isn’t that unique for a romantic comedy. Having Charlotte being the powerful politician and Fred being the everyman does help in that regard and I think that’s enough to set it apart.

The main aspect of a romantic comedy is the chemistry between its two leads and Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen have surprisingly good chemistry together. This includes both romantic chemistry and shared comedic timing. In fact, the whole cast has surprisingly good chemistry together. June Diane Raphael is especially great as Charlotte’s chief of staff, Maggie, who balances being supportive of Charlotte and being skeptical of Fred. She never comes off as the bad guy, just someone looking out for her friend. The main antagonists are played by Bob Odenkirk as President Chambers and Andy Serkis as Parker Wembly, both of whom do amazing jobs. Granted, both of these characters are a little cartoonish, so that might be a put off for some. It’s not a subtle movie in that regard.

The Extras

There are plenty of extras on the DVD / Blu-ray, starting with All’s Fair in Love & Politics, a 30-minute making of featurette. Seven Minutes in Heaven has the two stars talking about the movie for seven minutes. Secrets Weapons is a 16-minute featurette about the supporting cast. Epic Flarsky Falls is a six-minute look at the stunt scenes in the movie. Prime Minister Steward O-Rama is about Alexander Skarsgård’s performance as the Prime Minister of Canada and it is five minutes long. Hanging with Boyz II Men is a six-minute featurette and it is exactly what it sounds like. Just Kinda Crushing It! is four minutes of behind-the-scenes goofing off. The First Mister: A Portrait spends seven minutes looking at the creation of the First Mister Portrait that we saw in the movie. An Imperfect Union is a seven-minute featurette that looks at the central romance in the movie. Love & Politics is five minutes long and it looks at the script and the balance between the two aspects of the movie. Finally there’s Friends Like These, a four-minute look at the bad guys in the film. That’s almost 100 minutes of extras. That’s more than I was expecting. That’s more than double what I was expecting.

The Verdict

Long Shot is a romantic comedy set in the world of politics that should appeal to fans of the genre in general and of its two leads in particular. I wouldn’t call it a classic of the genre, but it has solid replay value, which certainly sets it apart from most. The extras on the DVD / Blu-ray are much better than expected and it lifts the overall value into the purchase level.

C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: Video Review, Long Shot, Charlize Theron, Bob Odenkirk, June Diane Raphael, Seth Rogen, Andy Serkis, Alexander Skarsgård, Randall Park, O'Shea Jackson, Jr.