The screening of “Long Shot” marked the return of a premiere of both Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron after “The Disaster Artist” and “Atomic Blonde,” respectively, both of which scored well two years ago as a comedy and action flick.
The screening opening with the cast and crew welcomed the audience of a sold out show on a Saturday night at the Paramount, a theater that seats 1,270 people. Both cast members thanked the festival for giving them a warm welcome and Theron even stated that SXSW was her most favorite festival and the cast and crew were excited to be premiering the film here.
Directed by Jonathan Levine, “Long Shot” is a romantic-comedy about Fred Flarsky, played by Seth Rogen, a journalist in between jobs who gets back in touch with the Secretary of State, Charlotte Fields, played by Charlize Theron, and their journey once she hires him as her writer. Being a Seth Rogen comedy, who has a line-up of films including “Neighbors” and “Sausage Party,” “Long Shot” had the potential of being filled with dirty jokes cranked all the way up. But, it was a pleasant surprise that it was not.
“Long Shot” was instead filled with comedy that was toned down, which resulted in hearty laughs from the audience, instead of one that would cringe at the content. The film drew in a thoughtful plot line that allowed Theron to play a powerful role in this comedy instead of a playing a damsel in distress for comedic relief.
The movie opens up with Rogen as Fred swearing into a White Supremacist group as his dedication through field research, and then goes on to get half a Swastika tattoo, before jumping out the window after he has been caught. After he goes back to report his completed article to his boss, he learns that the little newspaper is bought by the international mogul Parker Wembley (Andy Serkis) who is also Charlotte Fields’ enemy as well. Fred then immediately quits and heads over to his best bud, Lance (O’ Shea Jackson Jr.), who takes him to a party featuring Boyz II Men. Fred happens to catch Charlotte’s eye and reconnects before she asks him to write for her on her campaign tour.
The casting was the most refreshing decision made for the film. Charlize Theron is usually seen in either female-only films such as “Atomic Blonde” and “Tully” or strong action films such as “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “The Fate Of The Furious.” The film could also be labeled as a female centric powerful role not only because Theron played Senator of State, but also the character spoke her mind throughout the film and although the film highlighted the emotions that a woman would face under the pressure,emphasized when she would simply lay down occasionally and would hyperventilate asking for Fred to be near, that didn’t drag her down as she tried to achieve her ambitions. The fact that this was all through a light-hearted vein in a romantic-comedy, something that Theron fans were truly happy to see. Rogen played his adult comedic role flawlessly in scenes such as when both leads get incredibly high as expected and after portraying a goofy-romantic, more of these roles should open up for him.
O’Shea Jackson Jr. played the best hype man for Fred as Lance, which could be seen when Fred narrated a play-to-play to Lance over the phone dictating the entire conversation when Charlotte tells Fred her desire to meet with him. Other roles such as the Prime Minister James Steward played by Alexander Skarsgard is hilarious as Skarsgard plays the Prime Minister of Canada, simply as a pretty face which is the exact opposite of the narcissistic role of Perry Wright in HBO’s “Big Little Lies.” Finally, Bob Odenkirk as the president was comical, especially whenever the running joke was mentioned that he wanted to quit his presidency to become an actor to which the other characters responded, “it is a big accomplishment to go from TV to film and not a lot of actors have successfully done that.”
Overall, the film was such an exceptional comedy to watch and the actors added to the depth of it. To watch it on the Paramount screen simply places a comedy film at a higher status, sharing screen space with other film festival films. After the screening and a standing ovation, surprisingly, the Boyz II Men came out on stage and performed a medley of their songs which was a heartfelt and memorable ending to the screening.