This fish out of water rom-com delivers quite a high level of satisfaction. It’s two leads Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen, riff off each other well and the script gives them plenty of ammunition to do so. Director Jonathan Levine (Snatched and Warm Bodies) keeps things lively with very few flat spots.
Theron is Charlotte Field, the residing Secretary of State to sitting President Chambers (the under utilised Bob Odenkirk). She is a power player who is taking a run at the presidency after Chambers says he is not running for a second term. Rogen is Fred Flarsky, a recently unemployed fire brand journalist who has a better sense of morals than he does a dress sense.
Flarsky has always held a candle for Field dating back to a time in his youth when she was his babysitter. Through circumstances that could only exist in the world of cinema, their paths cross at a party. She soon hires him to help soften her image by helping with her speeches. The long dormant flame sparks up and they soon become an item.
The majority of the comedy comes from the fish out of water angle, he’s a slob and she, the razor sharp politician but the jokes are well written and both topical and current with today’s popular culture. They more often than not hit their mark. Add an ending that is as outlandish as the close of Pretty Woman and you have quite an enjoying film on your hands.
Rob Hudson
www.longshotmovie.com.au
