You can never hurry love…you just have to wait…

Long Shot takes the classic romantic comedy tropes, turns them on their ear and adds a lot more dick and weed jokes then you’d expect and is still probably one of the more delightful films of the entire year.

When Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) reunites with his first crush, one of the most influential women in the world, Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron), he charms her with his self-deprecating humor and his memories of her youthful idealism. As she prepares to make a run for the Presidency, Charlotte hires Fred as her speechwriter. A fish out of water on Charlotte’s elite team, Fred is unprepared for her glamorous lifestyle in the limelight. Sparks fly as their unmistakable chemistry leads to a round-the-world romance and a series of unexpected and dangerous incidents.

While Long Shot leans on some expect beats in the romantic comedy genre in manages some genuinely fresh energy thanks to twisting the standard convention, some deft shots at gender norms and two stellar performances.

Jonathan Levine is a director who has never been afraid to give us something a little different in a form that is still ultimately very familiar.  It follows the standard play book of a romantic comedy, giving us the awkward pairing and how they ultimately fall for each other but where it breaks away from the pact is that in a rather whip smart fashion it pushes against the gender norms with intelligence and some completely dead pan humor.  It all has real flow despite having the occasional moment that feels a little slower than it should.  The script from Dan Sterling and Liz Hannah allows us to have room to breathe with each of the characters so that we can truly get invested in their journey and happiness.  The humor isn’t forced and always feels intelligent as it plays with gender roles in society while being incredibly worthy of these two very compelling leads.

Charlize Theron simply knocks it out of the park on this one as Charlotte Field; a woman succeeding in the halls of power but ultimately sacrificing her personal happiness for her lofty ambitions and goals.  Theron successfully runs the gamut of playing it all sexy, stern, vulnerable and every other emotion in between for a very well rounded performance.  It’s a performance that is needed right now in the realm of the #MeToo movement as the film makes sure that we’re not necessarily invested in the message that she’s a woman in power and has to make sacrifices but one that reminds us that even women in power are ALLOWED to find love wherever they damn well please.  Plus the film is nimble enough to make sure that Theron is doing the heavy lifting with Rogan staying out of the way.

While Rogan certainly leans on his typical character type here just a little bit he manages to deviate into a quality and enlightened leading man with enough charisma to match Theron’s energy here and their chemistry together is quite simply electric.

They make for a dynamic pair and while some of their romantic moments play in the extreme there’s enough genuinely sweet material going on for us to really latch on to the pairing.

O’Shea Jackson is great as Rogan’s best friend while the likes of June Diane Raphael, Ravi Patel, Bob Odenkirk, Andy Serkis and Alexander Skarsgard round it all out for some genuine hilarity from top to bottom.

At the end of the day; Long Shot is exactly what the romantic comedy genre needed.  It really doesn’t reinvent the wheel in anyway shape or form but thanks to smart material which acknowledges the political climate and difficulties out there for the ladies in concert with some genuinely smart performances and chemistry for days, you’ll be able to watch Long Shot over and over again.